Dr. John Bochanski, Department of Physics
Rider University

October 16, 2015
12:30 – 1:30 pm
SCP-317

“Where Does the Milky Way End?”

Abstract: M giant stars offer our best opportunity to explore the outer reaches of the Galactic halo with today’s modern wide-field surveys. While it is challenging to distinguish from the overwhelming number of nearby dwarf stars, when identified, M giants are luminous tracers of the structural and kinematic properties of the Milky Way’s halo. Using optical and near-infrared photometry from the SDSS and UKIDSS surveys, we have collected a sample of candidate M giants with estimated distances ranging from 30 to well over 200 kpc. I will report on our group’s findings to date, which include the two most distant stars ever found in our Galaxy.