Analyzing Images of Galaxies (Video)

Velay Fellow Grace Ringlein, C'20, discusses her work on the Dark Energy Survey at the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships Open House and Research Expo.

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Video by Alex Schein 

This summer, Velay Fellow Grace Ringlein, C’20, worked under the advisement of Masao Sako, an associate professor of physics and astronomy, and postdoctoral researcher Chris D’Andrea, to create a method for optimizing source detection and measurement for data from the Dark Energy Survey. Using images from the Blanco telescope, she identified the host galaxies for supernovae and measured the flux of these galaxies. As part of this process, Ringlein worked with SWARP and SExtractor, two of the major programs used in the detection and cataloging process. 

The Velay Fellowship, supported by the Panaphil and Uphill Foundations, and named for the late Frances Velay, is designed to encourage women's leadership in the sciences by supporting the summer research of female undergraduates, helping prepare them for graduate study and professional careers in scientific fields.