News Release

Bishop Campus

Astronomy Speaker Series Continues at Bishop Campus

April 9, 2008

Cerro Coso Community College and the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy (CARMA) proudly announce that the next astronomy speaker series at the Eastern Sierra College Center, Bishop Campus will be held on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. This event is entitled, "CARMA Studies of Infrared Dark Clouds: Precursors to Stellar Clusters" and will include a free talk and slide show by Laura Perez, M.Sc. The College's Bishop Campus is located at 4090 West Line Street.

Cold, dense regions in the Milky Way, known as Infrared Dark Clouds are identified as obscured features against the bright mid-infrared Galactic background. They harbor cores that have similar sizes and masses as embedded clusters, which are the earliest known phase of a stellar cluster (e.g., the Orion Nebulae Cluster). This suggests that the cores detected in these massive clouds could be the precursors of stellar clusters.

As a consequence of its high resolution, the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy (CARMA) presents an exceptional opportunity to study in detail the structure and dynamics of Infrared Dark Cloud cores.
One of the questions that can be elucidated is when does mass segregation occur in these clusters? Mass segregation is a well-known observational feature in which heavier stars are located toward the center of the cluster, while lighter stars are found in the periphery. The talk will include some recent results of this investigation.

This free talk and slide show is for a general audience and all students and community members are invited to attend.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Joann Handeland, Director of Public Information (760) 384-6230