Martha P. Haynes

Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy
Ph.D. 1978 (Indiana University)

Campus Address:
530 Space Sciences Building
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853

Phone: 607-255-0610

Specialty Areas: Radio and Radar Astronomy

Research Projects: Observational Cosmology, Disk Scaling Relations and Their Applications as Distance Indicators, ALFALFA: the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA Survey

Biography: Her main research efforts focus on the study of the evolutionary histories of spiral galaxies, especially as they are influenced by their environment. What causes the observed variations in both morphological and physical properties among the galaxy populations in different regimes of intergalactic density? Is the dark matter distribution in a galaxy affected by its location? Ongoing work includes:
1. measuring the peculiar velocity field in the local universe;
2. trying to understand the origin of lopsidedness and counter-rotation in spiral disks;
3. tracking down the mechanisms that trigger star formation in low luminosity gas-rich irregulars.

Addressing these issues requires the acquisition of observational data with a variety of telescopes and instruments, incorporating both imaging and spectroscopic data at optical, infrared, and radio wavelengths to try to formulate a coherent picture of the problem under study. For a more detailed summary of current projects, take a look at the home page of the Cornell ExtraGalactic Group (EGG).

Some of our favorite Telescopes:

We hope someday to observe at the Cornell Atacama Telescope, a project to build an optical/IR telescope at an altitude of 17,000 feet in the Atacama plateau of northern Chile.

We observe a lot at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. AO is part of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center.

We observe a lot at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, including the GBT, the VLA, the VLBA and someday, ALMA. Professor Haynes is a member of the AUI Board which oversees NRAO; in fact, she is currently the Board chair.

We observe a lot at the Palomar Observatory in northern San Diego County, California. The 200-inch (5 meter) Hale telescope is jointly operated by Cornell University, the California Institute of Technology and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Read about the International Gemini Telescopes, two 8-meter optical/infrared telescopes, one in Hawaii and one in Chile. Professor Haynes represents the United States on the the International Gemini Board.

Selected Publications: -Haynes, M. P., and R. Giovanelli. "Large-Scale Structure in the Local Universe: The Pisces-Perseus Supercluster." In Large-Scale Motions in the Universe, V. C. Rubin and G. F. Coyne, eds. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988), 45.
-Haynes, M. P. "Evidence for Gas Deficiency in Cluster Galaxies." In Clusters of Galaxies, W. R. Oegerle, M. J. Fitchett, and L. Danly, eds. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 177.
-Vogt, N. P., T. Herter, M. P. Haynes, and S. Courteau. "The Rotation Curves of Galaxies at Intermediate Redshift." Ap. J. Letters 415 (1993).
-Roberts, M. S., and M. P. Haynes. "Variation of Physical Properties along the Hubble Sequence." Ann. Rev. Astron. Ap. 32, 115 (1994).
-Haynes, M. P., and A. H. Broeils. "Cool HI Disks in Galaxies." In Gas Disks in Galaxies, J. M. van der Hulst, ed. (New York: Springer-Verlag, 1995), to appear.