Undergrad Detecting Protostars: Light Processing Explained

[nmsurobert]

How are protostars detected? I doubt that someone is just looking at a poster of a nebula looking for stars.

I'm guessing the image is ran through some kind of light processing program that looks for... something?

Thanks!

 

[Drakkith]

Images are taken through filters that let through different wavelengths of light. Protostars form within nebulas, are surrounded by molecular clouds of gas and dust and typically radiate mostly in the infrared range, so by comparing the images taken through the different filters astronomers can identify which stars are most likely protostars.

I'm guessing the image is ran through some kind of light processing program that looks for... something?

Good question. I'm not sure to be honest.

 

[nmsurobert]

Images are taken through filters that let through different wavelengths of light. Protostars form within nebulas, are surrounded by molecular clouds of gas and dust and typically radiate mostly in the infrared range, so by comparing the images taken through the different filters astronomers can identify which stars are most likely protostars.
Good question. I'm not sure to be honest.

i know we can see them but I doubt that's how they're found. I would guess that the data is processed somehow then the image is looked at once a candidate is found.

 

[Drakkith]

i know we can see them but I doubt that's how they're found. I would guess that the data is processed somehow then the image is looked at once a candidate is found.

I'm not so sure. Targets for telescope observations are often chosen well in advance, so I could easily see the images first being looked at after only a minimal amount of automated processing. In other words, astronomers would choose a target, such as a nebula, write up the proposal to use the appropriate telescope, and then manually do most of the processing themselves once the images come back.

 

[stefan r]

How are protostars detected? ...

Millimeter wave telescopes. Radio telescopes. Some wavelengths will pass through dust that blocks visible and infrared light. Some gasses flow out of nebula which can indicate that something is happening inside.

...I doubt that someone is just looking at a poster of a nebula looking for stars...

Why not look at nebula?

 

[nmsurobert]

Why not look at nebula?

it seems like "eye balling" for a protostar is inefficient.

 

[Drakkith]

it seems like "eye balling" for a protostar is inefficient.

I'm not sure to be honest. Narrowing the sky down to just nebulas vastly reduces the number of stars to look at, but I don't know if there is still some sort of automated process in the pipeline.