By measuring the structure of the most distant part of our Galaxy, we can learn about how our Galaxy formed and how other galaxies form. We will do this by counting stars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey data, and by using the inverse-square law to get the distances to stars whose brightness we know. With these basic data, we can make a 3-D model of the outer parts of our Galaxy and find out how the structure of our Galaxy changes as we look farther away from the center.
Mentor: Alis Deason, Postdoctoral Scholar
Secondary Mentors: Prof. Connie Rockosi, Prof. Raja GuhaThakurta