Amanda Jefferson
University of Maryland, College Park
Amanda Jefferson and Chris Smith
The Magellanic Cloud Emission-line Survey (MCELS) is a survey of two of our nearest neighboring galaxies, found in the Local Group: the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Dr. Smith and his collaborators wish to study the properties, kinematics, and dynamics of the interstellar medium in these galaxies using [SII], [OIII], and H-alpha filters.
Working in this survey, my project included observations, data reduction, data analysis, and final image production. I contributed about 6 nights of observing on Cerro Tololo, reduced about 7 nights of data, and finally analyzed two particular regions of the LMC in which we anticipated finding supernova remnant candidates. Procedures to complete this final analysis task involved taking the ratios of [S II] to H-alpha images and looking for regions of relatively strong [S II] emission, which indicate shocked gases, and therefore can aid in identifying an evolved supernova remnants. Several supernova remnants, including one previously undiscovered remnant, were identified in this way in the two regions which were fully analyzed.