Star Formation
Theory
Our theoretical programme, led by Prof. Anthony Whitworth, focuses on simulations of collapsing molecular clouds, protostellar and protoplanetary discs, brown dwarf and low-mass star formation, binary stars, computational radiative transfer, transport of ionising radiation in HII regions, massive star formation, and dynamically triggered star formation. Currently 4 postdoctoral researchers, and 5 postgraduate students are working on theoretical projects.
Fragmenting protostellar disc.
Propagation of an HII region
Expanding cells in the interstellar medium
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about our theory research
Observations & Instrumentation
Our observational programme, led by Prof. Derek Ward-Thompson, includes observations of prestellar cores and young stellar objects in star forming regions. We are involved in a number of international projects to study star formation using the latest observational tools such as SCUBA2, HARP on the JCMT,and the Spitzer and Herschel Space Telescopes. These projects include the JCMT Gould Belt Legacy Survey , the SCUBA2 All-Sky Survey (SASSY), the JCMT Galactic Plane Survey, the Spitzer Gould Belt Survey, and the Herschel Gould Belt GT Key Programme. Currently, 3 postdoctoral researchers, and 2 postgraduate students are working on observational projects.
SCUBA image of NGC2068 protocluster in Orion
Ophiuchus chart
The Cardiff Astonomy Instrumentation Group, specializes in the design and construction of astronomical instrumentation at millimetre and sub-millimetre wavelengths, for ground and space-based observatories (e.g. SCUBA2 , SPIRE and THUMPER).