Upcoming Speaker

August 25 General Meeting

Dr. Graeme Smith presents Globular Clusters

The main area of Dr. Smith’s research has been the properties of the oldest populations of stars within our Galaxy, with regard to both their physical evolution and what they can tell us about the chemical enrichment history of the Milky Way. Much of his work has been directed towards the study of abundance differences among stars within globular clusters. These clusters are amongst the oldest stellar systems within the Galaxy, having formed at a time when the process of galactic chemical enrichment was just commencing. Striking differences in the abundances of the elements carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, sodium, magnesium, and aluminum typically exist among stars within the same globular cluster. Understanding the origin of these differences can potentially provide information about the early environment in the halo of our Galaxy, within which the globular clusters formed, as well as about processes, such as mixing, occurring within the interiors of their stars.

Dr. Smith also conducts research into chromospheric activity among evolved red giants, the spectroscopy of comets in our Solar System, and the chemical composition of red giants in Galactic open clusters. He holds B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Australian National University.