Luke Keller has two research interests: imaging and spectroscopic instrumentation and astrophysics of star formation and planetary system formation.
Luke is currently a member of a team that is building the Faint Object Infrared Camera for the SOFIA Telescope (FORCAST), a mid-infrared camera that will operate on an airborne observatory. He designed and is helping test the FORCAST optical system. He is also leading the development of the FORCAST data analysis software. His next project is an upgrade to FORCAST that will allow the instrument to record spectra in addition to images.
Luke's astrophysical interests are in the chemistry and evolution of proto-stellar and proto-planetary objects. He is a member of a team using the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope to gather infrared spectra of dust and gas orbiting stars other than the sun. He and his students reduce spectra from Spitzer data archives and analyze the results, looking for atomic and molecular signatures of material that may be forming planets. Luke also uses ground-based observatories to gather spectra and images of these objects. His current focus is on Herbig AeBe stars, a class of stars that are several times more massive than the sun and show evidence of disks of gas and dust orbiting them, which are possibly the precursors to solar systems similar to ours.
Enjoy viewing these research photos:
September 2004: Trip to the 200-inch Palomar Telescope with David Whelan
