Topic and Format Check

Topic

Please submit a brief description of the topic you'd like to focus on for your final project. If you have a few potential topics and/or questions about specific topics, that is completely fine. I'll respond to your submission with ideas, feedback and resources. 

General Topic Guidance: 

- choose something that interests you. 

- it can be something that builds off of a topic we've touched upon in class, but did not dive into deeply. For example, a deep focus on the famous McKee and Ostriker (1977) 3-phase ISM model, and recent updates to it would be a fun project. In the lecture slides, I tried to reference published works of interest... The role of turbulence in the ISM generally would also be interesting to explore. Another example (we haven't gotten to molecules yet), but a deep-dive on the XCO factor for converting CO observations to total molecular gas (H_2, which is MUCH harder to directly observe) is another exciting topic. Or HII region abundances...or dust to gas ratios in the Milky Way...or the Voyager Interstellar Mission (the first mission to make DIRECT measurements in interstellar space...)

-You could also choose to run a calculation with a code like CLOUDY: https://www.nublado.org/ Links to an external site.

(e.g. How would changing the interstellar radiation field with additional soft-x-ray sources impact the physics of the neutral ISM)

Format for Project

In addition, please discuss your tentative intended format for your project -- a written report, ppt presentation, video, etc. As described in the syllabus, I will be open-minded about formats! 

This is mainly so I know what to expect, and to schedule any 1-1 meetings if necessary during finals week. 

Happy to answer questions about this.