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• About

  BA, Franklin & Marshall College | Advisor: Eric Bell

  Dust attenuation in disk galaxies

  Brian Devour is studying dust distribution in nearby disk galaxies to better understand how the dust absorbs light and what the resulting effects are on observations of galaxy brightnesses and spectra. He is looking at both the quantity and the arrangement of dust within galaxies, and how it varies with size, brightness, structure, and other properties of the targets. Devour is comparing visible-light Sloan data with (dust-unaffected) infrared WISE and UKIDSS data to quantify the dust absorption. He is also using a new radial brightness profile technique to determine the dust distribution within galaxies and to classify them based on their infrared profiles. He hopes ultimately to develop more accurate dust corrections to measured galaxy brightnesses and spectra. These corrections are important for estimating galaxy stellar masses and distances. In addition, the ability to account for the varying effects of dust in different locations is important for understanding the overall structure of these galaxies.

  Publications

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