Tucson Nighttime Scientific Staff
Areas of Interest
Cosmology, Gravitational Lensing, Stellar Spectroscopy, Astronomical
Software
Recent Research Results
Recent work has centered on spectroscopy of a very broad sample of
stars of various spectral types, temperatures, and abundances. This
collection of stellar spectra will form a unique library, since it
covers a larger variety of stars at higher resolution than any existing
collection; the atlas will be made available to the astronomical
community and public at large. The research use of this library will
be for modeling stellar populations in galaxies and for developing
software that will be able to determine the temperature, mass, and
composition of stars from large future spectroscopic surveys.
Future Research Plans
The observations and preparation of the library of stellar spectra is a
multi-year project. Valdes also will be involved in a project to
develop new galaxy classification software. The observations used in
this project include nearby galaxies and the most distant galaxies
imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Service
Valdes is responsible for the development of forefront astronomical
software for CCD and spectroscopic astronomical data. This software
involves new techniques as well as complex programs to deal with the
increasingly complex astronomical data produced by advanced
astronomical instruments. The end-product is to extract the maximum
astronomical information from the observations made at the telescopes.
The software is required by users of NOAO instruments as well as other
observatories in the United States and abroad. Support of this
software involves assisting astronomers in the application of the
programs and consultation about the best methods to use. This
assistance is given to many NOAO staff, visitors, and astronomers from
smaller institutions.
Go to: [ NOAO Scientific Staff ]
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NOAO is operated by the Association of U
niversities for Research in Astronomy
(AURA), Inc. under cooperative agreement with the
National Science Foundation
Posted: 06Dec1996