Research
The CAB Massive Stars Group at Villafranca is currently composed of Jesús Maíz Apellániz (staff), Gonzalo Holgado Alijo (postdoctoral researcher), Emilio Trigueros Páez (PhD student), Helena García Escudero (Masters student), and Michelangelo Pantaleoni González (Bachelor student). A large contribution to our results was done by Alfredo Sota (former PhD student, now at IAA). The rest of the CAB Massive Stars Group is based at Torrejón and you can find information about them here.
We study massive stars using different techniques: imaging, spectroscopy, and astrometry; from the ground and from space; in the ultraviolet, optical, and infrared; and we are interested in the stars themselves, the clusters and associations they belong to, whether they are still close to the other stars they were born with or have been ejected as runaway stars, and in the interstellar medium located around them and on the path their light follows to reach us. We concentrate on the use of large-scale surveys to achieve our goals and for that purpose we contribute to their design, execution, calibration, and pipeline writing.
Our papers: Look for Jesús Maíz Apellániz in the ADS or in astro-ph. Look for Gonzalo Holgado Alijo in the ADS or in astro-ph.
The project we have spent more time on since 2002:
Another highly productive project:
The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey
High-resolution spectra of OB stars observed many times:
How we are finding OB stars in the Milky Way and the project we currently spend more time on:
How we are measuring their distances and motions:
How we are going to study their properties:
Press releases:
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•The Cepheus spur (in Spanish)
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•The first broad interstellar band in the visible spectrum (in Spanish)
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•The initial mass function of R136 (in Spanish)
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•Supermassive stars in R136 (in Spanish)
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•HD 150 136 (in Spanish)
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•NGC 1624-2 (in Spanish)
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•N11
