Associate Astronomer - NAASC, National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Aaron S. Evans
My current research primarily deals with observations of colliding galaxies and their associated phenomena (starbursts and active galactic nuclei [AGN]). The study of these galaxies requires a multi-wavelength approach, which to date has included optical to mid-infrared imaging, as well as near-infrared and (sub)millimeter spectroscopy. The observing facilities used to carry out these programs are the Mauna Kea Observatories in Hawaii (UH 2.2m, UKIRT, JCMT, Keck), the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Owens Valley Millimeter Arrayin California, the Steward Observatory 12m telescope at Kitt Peak, Arizona, and the IRAM 30m telescope in Spain.
In the process of carrying out these studies, I have benefited from extensive collaborations with my former advisor Dave Sanders (University of Hawaii), Joseph Mazzarella (IPAC, Caltech), Jason Surace (SSC, Caltech), the HST NICMOS GTO team, Lee Armus (SSC, Caltech), Dave Frayer (NRAO), Kazushi Iwasawa (Barcelona), Tom Soifer (Caltech), and Gerry Neugebauer.
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Hubble Space Telescope ACS images of the central regions of the
luminous infrared galaxy NGC 2623. This is one of a family
of galaxies observed to be products of gas-rich galaxy collisions. The
compression of gas during the collision triggers
star formation
and active galactic nuclei (AGN: i.e.,
accreting supermassive nuclear black holes) activity.
Note the region filled with
star clusters just south of the nucleus.
These data were obtained as part of
the Great Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey (GOALS).
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