Stellar Evolution, Cataclysmic Eruptions, and

the MysteriousV838 Monocerotis

Dr. Timothy Lawlor

Assistant Professor of Physics

Physics Department

Penn State Brandywine

Tuesday, April 1st, at 4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

Ruhl Student Center, Community Room

Abstract
The stars are changing - all of them.  Even our own sun is brighter now than it was at its birth, 5 billion years ago (plus or minus
a few hundred million years).  In the case of our Sun, it will be a few billion more years before we have to worry about it
on Earth.  Every once in a while, we spot a star that completely changes in size, brightness and temperature in just a few
weeks!  In this talk I'll review the life of a star like the Sun, what we can learn from starlight, and finally I will discuss the strange
extreme outburst object V838 Monocerotis (the "V" means variable).  This star grew in size by at least 10 times in weeks.
 

Biography:

TIMOTHY M. LAWLOR
Assistant Professor of Physics and Astrophysics
B.S., Pennsylvania State University,

B.S.,  East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania,

M.S., Wichita State University,

Ph.D. University of Delaware
Research/Scholarly Interests:  Computer modeling ­ the late states of stellar evolution; variable stars; born-again stars, V838 monocerotis and similar variable stars; population III starts (early universe stars), massive binary stars;
Joined campus faculty 2006.
 

                                                                                                                                   V838 Monocerotis Hubble Space Telescope

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