The Science Research Program (SRP) offers motivated and independent science students the opportunity to practice true laboratory science by providing training in scientific methods and by linking each student with a professional scientist in whose lab the student will participate in ongoing research and experimentation.

From the Choate website.

As part of my capstone project, I conducted research on Active Galactic Nuclei under the guidance of Dr. Allison Kirkpatrick and Prof. Meg Urry (PI) in the Yale Department of Astronomy. This folder contains the summation of my work over the summer of 2017.

A review of astrophysics research papers completed in the spring trimester preceding the summer internship. Discusses the role of gravitational hydrodynamics in the formation of spiral galaxies.

Summarizes findings of the research internship. The galaxy's black hole accretion rate and star formation rate are possitively correlated, an observation which is supported by previous research in the field.

A scientific poster containing information found in the research article. Made for the purposes of sharing research findings with the larger Choate community as part of the Student Lecture Series.

Research papers that provided background information and formulas for this project.

NOTE: File size exceeds upload maximum. Files not included in this repository. Raw data of galaxies from telescopes in .fits or .dat format.

PNG files of graphs produced through the sorting, modification, and analysis of raw data based on information found in research papers.

Raw data converted to .txt format for easy access by coding.

Quantitative analysis of the data using Jupyter Notebook. Basically all the code.

Ran some code on a fake set of data points for testing purposes. Not part of the final project deliverables.

Before the code can be run, users must install astropy and some additional libraries or software, which may be conveniently obtained through the Anaconda Python distribution. You may also have to move around some data files in order for the programs to run properly.

I would like to thank the Yale Department of Astronomy, Prof. Meg Urry, and Dr. Allison Kirkpatrick for hosting me for the summer and working with me on my project. I would also like to thank Dr. Hogue and my SRP classmates for providing me with the support needed to prepare me for my summer research.

As this is not an open-source software, I request that you do not use or redistribute the materials found in this project folder.