Dr. Asif ud-Doula has spent the past two years as part of a research team observing the unusually large magnetosphere around an O-type star called NGC 1624-2 using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.
The subject of the study - a massive O-type star - is the hottest and brightest type of star in the universe and has the largest magnetosphere known in its class.
Their findings, which will be published in the Nov. 1 print edition of the journal, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society from Oxford University Press may help scientists better understand the lifecycle of certain massive stars, which are essential for creating metals needed for the formation of other stars and planets.
The team was led by led by Florida Institute of Technology Assistant Professor Véronique Petit. Dr. ud-Doula served as a theoretician on this project, which was also reported on in Science Daily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150923082607.htm
An abstract of the article can be read here: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015MNRAS.453.3288P
"Since this article was 'observation' based, and I am a theoretician, I help provide an explanation why we see what we see," Dr. ud-Doula said.
Petit and her team will know even more about the NGC 1624-2 in October after getting data back from the Hubble Space Telescope that will explore the dynamics of its trapped wind. Dr. ud-Doula will be providing computer modeling of NGC 1624-2 star's stellar wind.
He is also currently working on a manuscript that will provide further details and insights into this project and hopes to have that published in the near future.
In addition, Dr. ud-Doula will give a colloquium at Penn State's Department of Astronomy at University Park on Oct. 14.
Dr. ud-Doula, is an assistant professor of physics at Penn State Worthington Scranton. Prior to joining Penn State Worthington Scranton, he was an assistant physics professor at Morrisville State College and was an instructor at Widener University and the University of Delaware.
He was a NASA Space Grant College Graduate Fellow at the Bartol Research Institute and has been awarded numerous research grants, including a grant as a co-investigator on NASA's Long Term Space Astrophysics program and a NASA/DSGC Graduate Fellowship.
He resides in Glenburn Twp., with his wife, Dr. Lili Bao, a senior chemist, and their two sons.
