ESO's MUSE instrument.
Abstract
Massive stars are powerful engines that can regulate the evolution of astrophysical objects from very small scales, such as planet-forming discs, all the way to the very large scales of entire galaxies. Simply put, if it was not for the energy and momentum output from massive stars, the Universe would be a very different place. And yet, there are still many open questions when it comes to understanding the formation and evolution of massive stars: how do they form? When do they form? Where do they form? How do they “die”?
In this talk, I will show how the most recent technological advancements (e.g., new observatories and new computer simulations) have helped us make significant progress towards finding answers to these questions. I will also talk about serendipitous discoveries, and touch upon the importance of diversity in astrophysics.
Speaker bio
Anna McLeod grew up in the mountains of southern Switzerland. She obtained her BSc from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany, and her MSc from Radboud University, Nijmegen in the Netherlands. Anna then returned to Munich for her doctoral degree at the European Southern Observatory, where she was advised by Leonardo Testi and graduated Magna cum Laude. After earning her PhD, Anna moved to Christchurch, New Zealand, where she was a Marsden Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, after a brief stint in the software industry. In 2018 she moved to the University of California, Berkeley where she held a prestigious NASA Hubble Fellowship until her move to a faculty position at Durham University in 2020.
At Durham, students and postdoctoral researchers in Anna’s group use the world’s largest telescopes to study star formation and feedback from massive stars in the Milky Way and beyond, and run powerful computer simulations to produce synthetic observations which can be directly confronted with telescope data.
Anna is also a promoter and supporter of diversity and a healthy work-life balance in what is a very competitive and unforgiving field. Anna is the main organiser of a yearly outreach event aimed at schoolgirls with an interest in STEM subjects from underprivileged backgrounds in the Northeast.