NOTE: This meeting will be in person at FURMAN UNIVERSITY, not at the Science Center. Location and Map are listed below:
Abstract:
How to Catch a Spider: Studying Binary Interactions Using NASA's TESS Spacecraft
Most stars in our Galaxy host stellar, substellar, or even planetary companions that can greatly influence later stages of their host star's evolution. Hot subdwarfs are a prime example of this effect, since they appear to be the leftover cores of red giants that were stripped of their outer atmospheres. Many have nearby red dwarf companions, and studying their properties can shed light on whether planets can survive the red giant phase of their host stars. Recent photometric surveys conducted by ESA's Gaia spacecraft and NASA's TESS mission have provided long, mostly uninterrupted data sets of unprecedented quality for thousands of hot subdwarfs. Here I present an overview of hot subdwarf binaries and discuss our ongoing work with Gaia and TESS to discover and characterize these interesting systems. Additionally, I discuss the serendipitous discovery of a new, nearby "spider binary" in the course of this work.
Speaker:
Dr. Brad Barlow is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Before that, he spent 11 years working as an Associate Professor of Astrophysics and Director of the Culp Planetarium at High Point University. Dr. Barlow received a B.S. in physics from Mississippi State University in 2006, a Ph.D. in physics (astronomy concentration) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2011, and he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Pennsylvania State University from 2011-2013. His research primarily focuses on pulsating stars, late stellar evolution, and binary star systems. While at UNC-Chapel Hill he helped develop software for the Goodman spectrograph on the 4.1-m SOAR telescope on Cerro Pachon in Chile. Originally from Biloxi, Mississippi, Brad did his undergraduate studies at Mississippi State University. His other interests include playing the piano, writing music, cycling, and public outreach.
LOCATION:
We will meet in a classroom in Plyler Hall 222 in the Townes Science Center. Visitors can park in the South Chapel Lot, which is the parking lot between the Daniel Chapel and the football stadium (park closer to the chapel side – see attached map, follow the red arrow). The building is across the Mall from the parking lot. The classroom is on the second floor; there is stair and elevator access near the classroom.