The Motions of Stars and Gas in Disk Galaxies

Studies of disk galaxies, like our own Milky Way, are foundational to our current understanding of galaxy formation and evolution. Studies of their rotational motions provided one of the first pieces of evidence for the existence of dark matter. I will discuss similar kinematic measurements we use to understand their internal mass distribution and structural components. I will provide context for the instruments and software required to obtain and analyze the optical spectroscopy used for these studies.

Speaker: Dr. Kyle Westfall, UC Santa Cruz