Master’s Thesis Project in Astronomy

The faint outskirts of galaxies (30/45 hp)

Observationally, there are two rivalling methods for studying the faint outskirts of galaxies – surface photometry and direct star counts – each with its merits and shortcomings. Naively, one would expect both methods to give similar results, but converting between the two is not trivial, and no standard method for doing this has so far been developed. Interestingly, deep surface photometry data have recently revealed anomalously red halos around galaxies – a phenomenon not yet been confirmed through star counts. In this project, the conversion from star counts to surface photometry will be modeled in detail, with special emphasis on the red halo problem.

Supervisor: Erik Zackrisson

Please contact Erik Zackrisson, ez(at)astro.su.se, for more information!