I am Irene J. M., and I had a traineeship this summer at Quasar SR. My favourite task was using Python to plot both the star positions and the proper motions from the Gaia data, alongside the gas and dust data from Herschel. The scientific value of this combination stands out while studying massive young clusters, and overall, it improves the understanding of how galaxies evolve. This is in fact the part from the StarFormMapper Project in which I took part.
Study of the star cluster NGC1960 with sky coordinates α=05h 36m 18s δ=+34◦ 08’ 24” and radius of 1.5◦
Image of NGC1960 with the Herschel PACS instrument. | Image of NGC1960 with the Herschel SPIRE instrument. | Plot and distributions of proper motions of the stars in a cluster. |
Moreover, I have gained some skills in code development (Python, Git, Jupyter Notebook), as well as project coordination techniques (Confluence, workshops, Scrum) and tools with astronomical interest (Gaia Archive, Herschel Science Archive, Esasky).
It was a very instructive and enjoyable experience. Also, the mugs are really cool!