Nicole M. Silvestri, Research Associate

nmsImage
Me and my monkey, Madison Taylor.

NOTE:


This page is currently under construction. Please contact me with questions until I'm finished!

Contact Information


Email: nms@astro
Office : C325
Phone : 206.543.9487
Fax : 206.685.0403
GTalk : nmkelly21

Dept. of Astronomy
University of Washington
Box 351580
Seattle, WA 98195-1580

Shipping Address:
3910 15th Ave NE
Seattle, WA 98195-1580

About Me

Education

Ph.D. Space Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL, December 2002
M.S. Space Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL, December 1997
B.S. Physics, Union College, Schenectady, NY, May 1995

Post Doctoral Work

I am currently a Research Associate in the University of Washington's Department of Astronomy where I work full time for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) project's Data Management (DM) team.

Current Research

I am an observational astronomer specializing in the evolution of binary systems, primarily those comprised of a low mass star and a white dwarf. My research at the UW utilizes photometry and spectroscopy from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to identify and investigate the properties of white dwarf and M dwarf stars in close binary (pre-Cataclysmic Variable) systems. We investigate the chromospheric activity, ages, radial velocities, and kinematics of these systems and compare them to the field SDSS white dwarf and SDSS M Dwarf star samples to better understand how the close binary environment influences the general properties and overall evolution of the individual members of each system. We have used the Apache Point Observatory's ARC 3.5m Telescope extensively in this research.

Please refer to my people page for the UW Survey Science Group. Those pages give the details of my research, but you can find very brief summaries of this research, including relevant literature links, below. You can access the full latex tables and software associated with this research on my Data Products pages.

Links to publications resulting from SDSS close binary work:

Dissertation Research

My thesis work was on the chromospheric activity and ages of M dwarf stars in wide common proper motion binary (CPMB) systems. These wide systems, first identified by W. Luyten (1963), have orbital separations on the order of 100-1000's AU. The individual stars in each system formed and evolved together but their separations wide enough that they likely never undewent a common envelope phase and essentailly have evolved as single stars. The typical companion to the M dwarf in these systems is a white dwarf, thus enabling the determination of the age of the system (and therefore the M dwarf) from the white dwarf cooling age. This research utilized the Apache Point Observatory's ARC 3.5m Telescope, the KPNO Mayall 4m Telescope, the CTIO Blanco 4m telescope, and the SARA 0.9m telescope extensively.

Download a copy of my Ph.D. Thesis. gzipped postscript file:

Links to publications resulting from my dissertation research:

Masters Research

My masters work was on the gravitational redshifts, mass distribution, kinematics of white dwarf stars in the CPMBs mentioned above. We determined their UVW-space motions and their membership in the thin or thick disk or halo of the galaxy. This research utilized the KPNO Mayall 4m Telescope and the SARA 0.9m telescope extensively.

For a copy of my Masters Thesis, contact me.

Links to publications resulting from my masters thesis research:

Personal Information: My Life Outside of Astronomy