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A Census of Young Binary Stars and their Properties. Kendra Kellogg Northern Arizona University Dr. Lisa Prato Lowell Observatory. Introduction. Our goal: To explore and better understand the properties of circumstellar disks in T Tauri binary systems My job:
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A Census of Young Binary Stars and their Properties Kendra Kellogg Northern Arizona University Dr. Lisa Prato Lowell Observatory
Introduction Our goal: To explore and better understand the properties of circumstellar disks in T Tauri binary systems My job: To organize and update a database containing these data and analyze them
Why young binaries? • Most young stars are found in binary systems; sometimes triple or quadruple systems • Young stars still have most of their disks starfieldobservatory.com
Why disks? • Circumstellar or circumbinary disks are the beginnings of coalesced planetary systems like our own solar system nasa.gov spaceandtechnology.com
Data and analysis • Used data from published papers • Used IDL (Interactive Data Language) for the analysis
What are K, L and K-L? • K (2.2μm) • L (3.4μm) • K-L colors show presence of dusty disk Furlan et al. 2006
Usage of Database • Compared K-L colors of selected stars to the K-L colors from other data sets of the same stars • Stars below 0.4 mag do not have disks and those above do have disks (Edwards et al. 1993)
Conclusions • Results show that star systems and circumstellar disks change over time Padgett et al. 1999
Acknowlegements I would like to thank: Mentor - Dr. Lisa Prato Space Grant Director - Dr. Nadine Barlow NASA Space Grant Any Questions?