Wisconsin Discovery Portal

Researcher's Profile

Last Name

Sparke 

First Name

Linda 

Middle Initial

Areas of Research Expertise

* Dynamics of galaxies: disk systems
* Dynamics of disks around binary stars
* Structure of stellar populations and gas distribution in galaxies

Web site

Linda Sparke's University Web Page 

Curriculum Vitae (CV)

Linda Sparke's CV 

Current/Active Funding

  • NSF, 2005-2010, REU Site for Astronomy and Astrophysics UW- Madison: 2005 and Beyond

Issued Patent(s)

 

USPTO Published Applications

Recent Publication(s)

  • "NGC 2655: From inner polar ring to outer shells and tails"

Sparke LS, van Moorsel G, Erwin P, et al., Astronomical Journal 135 (1): 99-111 2008. NGC 2655, a nearby bright S0/a galaxy in a loose group, has strongly asymmetric central dust lanes and an extended disk of neutral hydrogen gas. Here we present deep optical images showing tidal arms and regions of diffuse starlight well beyond the main galaxy, suggestive of a recent merger.

  • Galaxies in the Universe: an Introduction
(Book) L.S. Sparke & J.S. Gallagher, III, Cambridge University Press 2000; second edition 2007. This book is a `with-calculus' introduction, aimed primarily at third- and fourth-year undergraduate students of astronomy or physics, who have taken the first year or two of university-level physics.
  • "The photometric and kinematic structure of face-on disk galaxies. I. Sample definition, H alpha integral field spectroscopy, and HI line widths"

Andersen DR, Bershady MA, Sparke LS, et al., Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 166 (2): 505-525 Oct 2006. We find H I and H alpha line profiles to be similar in width but different in shape, indicating that we are observing different spatial distributions of ionized and neutral gas in largely axisymmetric systems with flat outer rotation curves.

  • "Stellar kinematics for the central spheroid in the polar disk galaxy NGC 4650A"

Iodice E, Arnaboldi M, Saglia RP, et al., Astrophysical Journal 643 (1): 200-209 Part 1May 2006. The new high-resolution kinematic data suggest that the stellar component in NGC 4650A resembles a nearly exponential oblate spheroid supported by rotation.

Recent Artistic Works

 

Collaboration

 

Research Tools

 

Research Facilities

 

E-mail Address

sparke@astro.wisc.edu 

Phone Number

(608) 262-0309 

Current University

UW - Madison 

Department

Astronomy 

Title

Professor 

Other Appointments

Rotator Program at NSF

Address Line 1

6217 Chamberlin Hall 

Address Line 2

1150 University Avenue 

City

Madison 

State

WI 

Zip Code

53706 

Bachelor's Degree

BA, Cambridge University, England, Mathematical Tripos, 1977

Master's Degree

MA, University of California-Berkeley, Astronomy, 1979

PhD

PhD, University of California-Berkeley, 1981

Other Degrees

 

Technologies Available for Licensing

Attachments
Created at 6/12/2007 2:07 PM  by Mindy Dawson 
Last modified at 1/21/2010 2:30 PM  by EXTWEB\alarson