2012/09/14 by Aida Wofford, Wofford, Aida, Claus Leitherer +27
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #FOS: Physical sciences #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph.GA #astro-ph.SR
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1209.3199
Science white paper submitted to NASA Solicitation NNH12ZDA008L: Science Objectives and Requirements for the Next NASA UV/Visible Astrophysics Mission Concepts. 7 pages, 4 figures, PDF
arxiv created 2012/09/14 · openalex publication_date 2012/09/14 · arxiv updated 2012/09/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We describe observations in the nearby universe (<100 Mpc) with a 10-m or larger space-based telescope having imaging and spectral capabilities in the range 912-9000 Åthat would enable advances in the fields of massive stars, young populations, and star-forming galaxies, that are essential for achieving the Cosmic Origins Program objectives i) how are the chemical elements distributed in galaxies and dispersed in the circumgalactic and intergalactic medium; and ii) when did the first stars in the universe form, and how did they influence their environments. We stress the importance of observing hundreds of massive stars and their descendants individually, which will make it possible to separate the many competing factors that influence the observed properties of these systems (mass, composition, convection, mass-loss, rotation rate, binarity, magnetic fields, and cluster mass).