Faculty Sponsor(s)
Michael Crosser
Subject Area
Physics/Applied Physics
Description
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (Roman) has the goal of completing wide area astrophysics infrared surveys that will study galaxy clusters, star formation, the evolution of dark energy, and explore exoplanet demographics. The Wide Field Instrument (WFI) of Roman is the primary instrument that will be used to conduct Roman’s surveys, with two detectors, a prism and a grism. The WFI must be calibrated for precision and accuracy, to verify the operations of the prism and grism. We developed a tool to identify and analyze the strength of spectral absorption features in a catalog of stars. We then created an algorithm that identifies the absorption features in stellar spectra from the SpeX Prism Spectral Libraries catalog. From the output of this algorithm, we were able to determine which M and L type stars had the most features in this catalog.
Recommended Citation
Stephens, Gabrielle, "Identifying Optimal Stellar Spectral Types for Roman's Spectroscopic Calibration" (2025). Linfield University Student Symposium: A Celebration of Scholarship and Creative Achievement. Event. Submission 24.
https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/symposium/2025/all/24
Identifying Optimal Stellar Spectral Types for Roman's Spectroscopic Calibration
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (Roman) has the goal of completing wide area astrophysics infrared surveys that will study galaxy clusters, star formation, the evolution of dark energy, and explore exoplanet demographics. The Wide Field Instrument (WFI) of Roman is the primary instrument that will be used to conduct Roman’s surveys, with two detectors, a prism and a grism. The WFI must be calibrated for precision and accuracy, to verify the operations of the prism and grism. We developed a tool to identify and analyze the strength of spectral absorption features in a catalog of stars. We then created an algorithm that identifies the absorption features in stellar spectra from the SpeX Prism Spectral Libraries catalog. From the output of this algorithm, we were able to determine which M and L type stars had the most features in this catalog.
