Sally Oey facts for kids
Dr. Sally Oey is an American astronomer who studies huge, hot stars at the University of Michigan. These massive stars often explode as supernovae when they die. In 1999, she won the Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy. This award is given by the American Astronomical Society (AAS). She was also asked to speak at an AAS meeting in 2006. Dr. Oey is now a professor and helps lead the Gemini Observatory. In 2023, her university honored her for her great work teaching college students.
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Her Early Life and School
Dr. Oey was born in Ithaca, New York. Her parents came to the U.S. in 1957 from Indonesia. She went to Bryn Mawr College and finished her studies there in 1986. Later, she earned her PhD in astronomy from the University of Arizona in 1995.
Exploring the Stars: Her Research
From 1998 to 2001, Dr. Oey worked at the Space Telescope Science Institute. Then, from 2001 to 2004, she was an assistant astronomer at the Lowell Observatory.
Dr. Oey leads a research group called FANG. This stands for "Feedback Activity in Nearby Galaxies." Her team studies how giant stars affect the gas and dust around them. This gas and dust is called the interstellar and intergalactic medium. It happens in our galaxy and in space far away.
What is Star Feedback?
"Feedback" means how stars change their surroundings. For example, hot stars give off a lot of light. This light can heat up gas clouds. When stars explode as supernovae, they send out strong winds. These winds can push gas and dust around. All these actions help shape galaxies. They also spread new elements through space.
Finding Star Size Limits
Dr. Oey and her team at the University of Michigan made an interesting discovery. They looked at star groups in our galaxy. They also studied the nearby Magellanic Clouds. They found no stars bigger than 200 times the mass of our Sun. This suggests there might be a limit to how big stars can get.
Dr. Oey said it's not clear why there's a limit. It could be about how stars form. Or it might be about the size of the gas cloud they come from. She also thinks that even bigger stars, maybe 500 times the Sun's mass, might have existed long ago. This would have been when the universe was very young.
Helping Students Learn
Dr. Oey is very dedicated to teaching college students. In 2023, she became an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor. This award recognized her teaching at the University of Michigan. She helped many more students choose astronomy as their main subject. She also encouraged students studying other subjects to learn about astronomy. Dr. Oey also made sure her teaching included ideas about fairness and including everyone.
See also
In Spanish: Sally Oey para niños
