Yet many details of this process remain obscure. One is the role of interstellar magnetic fields. Observations of radio frequency radiation from interstellar clouds yield estimates of magnetic field strengths in these regions. From these estimates come indications of the role of the magnetic field in the star formation process. Kentucky researchers carry out these observations using radio telescopes in the U.S. and abroad.
Data analysis occurs at home, using university-wide and departmental computing facilities.
The radio frequency analogs of laboratory lasers, these powerful sources of radio radiation arise naturally near young and aged stars. Interstellar masers present challenging problems in theoretical physics involving the interaction of matter and radiation in space. Using computer simulations and analytical mathematics, UK researchers seek to understand the propagation of radiation through interstellar masers and through other astrophysical environments as well. Much larger in scale than stars are the galaxies that fill space to the very limits of the observable universe. At the centers of some galaxies lie intense sources of radiation of non-stellar origin.