HYBRID – General Meeting – December 2022

6:30 pm – Main Presentation

TITLE:  A JWST View of Starburst Galaxies: Sweet Data Coming Soon!

PRESENTATION:  The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has already produced stunning results since it began sending back images and data in July. Among its first programs, JWST will study two famous “starburst” galaxies: M82 (the Cigar Galaxy) and NGC253 (the Sculptor Galaxy), as part of program #1701 in which Dr. Levy is deeply involved. These two well-studied galaxies are relatively nearby and are undergoing an intense burst of star formation at their centers. During this talk, Dr. Levy will highlight some of the key observations and results we have learned so far; from the “super” star clusters powering these galaxies’ extreme star formation to the large-scale outflows of material being expelled from them. Dr. Levy will explain the goals of her team’s JWST program and will show some preliminary images from JWST that have just been delivered.

BIO:  Dr. Rebecca Levy is an expert on measuring the effects of stars on their environments in nearby galaxies. She uses telescopes across the electromagnetic spectrum and around the globe to measure the motions of gas in and around galaxies. She is currently a National Science Foundation Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow at Steward Observatory. Dr. Levy obtained her PhD in 2021 from the University of Maryland, where she studied the very center of a nearby “starbursting” galaxy NGC253 as well as ionized gas around galaxies. Dr. Levy obtained her B.S. degrees in Astronomy and Physics from the University of Arizona in 2015, and she is delighted to be back in Tucson for her postdoc position.