Research

Research

Physics major Makennah Bristow (B.S. 2019) researched how galaxies evolve, using data from the SDSS-IV MaNGA Survey.

UNC Asheville astronomers Britt Lundgren and David Wake are both active members of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), an international astronomy collaboration working to precisely measure the positions and properties of millions of nearby stars, galaxies, and quasars.  Dr. Lundgren studies quasars and the circumgalactic medium of galaxies, using spectra obtained by the SDSS-III BOSS and SDSS-IV eBOSS Surveys.  Dr. Wake specializes in studies of galaxy evolution and is the Sample Design Lead for the SDSS-IV MaNGA Survey, which is obtaining spatially-resolved spectroscopy for 10,000 galaxies in the local universe.

Both Dr. Lundgren and Dr. Wake also have ongoing observational and archival programs using the Hubble Space Telescope.

Current UNCA students involved in these projects include:

  • Delaney Carlton (Physics)
  • Drew Griffith (Physics / Astronomy / Atmospheric Science)
  • Solomon McDonald (Computer Science / Astronomy)
  • Loden Miller (Physics / Astronomy)
  • Nick Robisch (Computer Science / Astronomy)
  • Abdullah Sayed (Physics / Astronomy / Math)
  • Aaron Speyer (Physics / Astronomy)
  • Jordan Tinder (Physics / Astronomy)

Recent publications: