ESM'2010, October 25-27, 2010, Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium, Conference Invited Speakers

Invited Speakers

Prof. Leen Decin
Instituut voor Sterrenkunde
Celestijnenlaan 200 D
B - 3001 Heverlee (Leuven)
Belgium
Tel: (+32) 16 32 70 41
Fax: (+32) 16 32 79 99
Email: Leen.Decin@ster.kuleuven.be

Deciphering the spectral fingerprints of old stars

Old stars are not boring, are not quiet, are not introvert, and are not shriveled up. Old stars are exciting, are very bright, are energetic, are extrovert, are gigantic in size, and above all they are very numerous in the sky. It might be difficult to see them with your naked eyes, but luckily there exist high-technological ground-based and space-borne telescopes to help you with this task. In this talk, I will present you some of the latest scientific results obtained with the new ESA-Herschel Satellite, launched in May 2009. I will show you how signatures of many molecules and dust species tell us something about the life and history of old stars. The interpretation of these molecular fingerprints is based on state-of-the-art model techniques combining the effects of chemistry, dynamics and radiative transfer. I will discuss some of the baselines of these model techniques, and show how these model simulations were of utmost importance in the interpretation of our recent detection of warm water vapour around an old carbon-rich star [published in Nature, on September 2, 2010].

Curriculum Vitae

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Abstract from Powerlink Vzw-Ghent University

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