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Melissa L. Pastorius
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Missouri- St. Louis
Advisor: Dr. Erika Gibb
Abstract
Studying the chemistry of young stellar objects, specifically in the disk and the envelope, can provide a great deal of information on the formation and evolution of stellar systems. Several stars in the Rho Ophiuci and Taurus star forming regions were observed and evidence for ice features of different molecules using two different instruments was presented. The Spitzer Space Telescope was used to observe the CO2 ice feature at 15.2 ?m and the SpeX instrument on the Infrared Telescope Facility in Mauna Kea, HI was employed to observe the 3.05 ?m H2O and 4.67 ?m CO ice features. The data presented in this report is for the Taurus star-forming region.
Melissa Pastorius earned her B.S. Physics and minor in Mathematics from the University of Missouri - St. Louis in December 2007. She is currently working on her Masters in Astrophysics at the University of Missouri St. Louis and will be transferring to DePaul University in Chicago for the 2008-2009 academic year.
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