Loren Anderson, "Toward a Complete Census of Galactic Supernova Remnants"

A massive star ends its life by exploding violently as a supernova. After a supernova explosion, the debris left behind glows; this debris is called a supernova remnant (SNR). Compared to the short-duration flash of a supernova, SNRs last much longer, and therefore can be used to learn about the massive star population and the energy injected by them at the end of their lives. Despite their importance, the census of SNRs in the Milky Way is severely incomplete. This incompleteness is caused by difficulties locating Galactic SNRs in dense parts of the Galaxy and by a lack of sensitive data. I will describe our recently-funded project to find new SNRs across the Milky Way using data from the South African MeerKAT telescope.  Based on previous searches and initial results, our search is expected to double the known SNR population, which aside from closing the gap between the expected and known SNR populations would also provide a wealth of new objects for follow up studies.

I am an observational astronomer and study the impact that massive stars have on our Milky Way Galaxy. I defended my PhD in 2009 under the supervision of Dr. Thomas Bania. From 2009 to 2011 I worked with Drs. Annie Zavagno and Lise Deharveng on Herschel satellite data. I became an assistant professor at WVU in 2011. I have two amazing daughters and one incorrigible dog, Saturn. In my free time I like to hike, run, ski, play soccer, make beer, play piano, and fix up my 1911 bungalow.