David Austerberry (undergraduate physics major) was awarded two nights of observing time with the 4-meter (158 inch) Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. The project will obtain spectral data of two distant quasars that have high-velocity mass outflows driven away from their central supermassive blackholes. Constraints determined on the outflow energies will be used to test models of the link between quasars and galaxy formation. The telescope time was secured with David’s proposal “Constraining BALQSO Kinetic Luminosity with C III* Absorption” submitted through the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) observing program, the primary means for obtaining time on ground based telescopes in the US for professional astronomers.
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