Physics & Astrophysics
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I was born in a small village in The Netherlands, near Arnhem. After my primary and secondary education in Alkmaar i went on to study Astrophysics at the University of Amsterdam. This is also where i obtained my Ph.D., in 1999, after having spent the first two years at the European Southern Observatory Headquarters near Munich in Germany. Then i got married, spent two years in Cambridge as a postdoctoral researcher, and in 2001 took up a lectureship at Keele University where i got promoted to Reader in 2008.
My research concentrates on "Stellar Ecology": the interplay between stars and their environment. Stars form from dense clouds of gas and dust, most of which was previously burnt inside stars and ejected by them as they died. This mass-loss process can happen in different ways, via winds or explosions. Much of my research is aimed at understanding how these mechanisms work, and how they would operate under conditions that were prevalent in the early Universe but which we can no longer observe locally. In order to better understand the impact of the ejecta on the future of their host galaxies, i investigate the small-scale structure of the diffuse interstellar medium.
My work is observationally driven, using the largest facilities in space (e.g., the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope) and on the ground (ESO Very Large Telescope, Arecibo radio telescope, et cetera), and my Ph.D. students have gone on several observing trips to Chile and Australia.
In 2007 i was awarded a Leverhulme Research Fellowship, to work on the neighbouring spiral galaxy Messier 33 together with an Iranian Ph.D. student. Besides my research i also edit two electronic newsletters (on AGB Stars and on the Magellanic Clouds), chair the ESO Users Committee and organise an International Astronomical Union Symposium at Keele in 2008.
Picture shows the globular cluster omega Centauri
For more details see http://www.astro.keele.ac.uk/~jacco
Selected Publications
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Journal Articles
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2013. Early-stage young stellar objects in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 428(4), 3001-3033. doi>
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2010. The SAGE-Spec Spitzer Legacy Program: The Life Cycle of Dust and Gas in the Large Magellanic Cloud. PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF THE PACIFIC, vol. 122(892), 683-700. link>
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2009. Dust Production and Mass Loss in the Galactic Globular Cluster NGC 362. The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 705(1), 746-757. doi>
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2006. The Spitzer Infrared Spectrometer view of V4334 Sgr (Sakurai's Object). Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters, vol. 373(1), L75-L79. doi>
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2006. Very Large Telescope three micron spectra of dust-enshrouded red giants in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 447, 971-989. doi>
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2005. Dust-enshrouded giants in clusters in the Magellanic Clouds. Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 442, 597-613. doi>
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2005. An empirical formula for the mass-loss rates of dust-enshrouded red supergiants and oxygen-rich Asymptotic Giant Branch stars. Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 438, 273-289. doi>
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2004. Discovery of multiple shells around V838 Monocerotis:. Astronomy and Astrophysics. doi>
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2004. Discovery of multiple shells around V838 Monocerotis:. Astronomy and Astrophysics.
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2004. Mid-infrared observations of young stellar objects in the vicinity of sigma Orionis. Astronomy and Astrophysics. doi>
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2003. Far infra-red emission from NGC7078: First detection of intra-cluster dust in a globular cluster. Astronomy and Astrophysics. doi>
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2003. V838 Mon: an L supergiant?. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 343(3), 1054-1056. doi>
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2003. Discovery of a dust cloud next to sigma Orionis. Astronomy and Astrophysics. doi>
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2003. Long period variables detected by ISO in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Astronomy and Astrophysics. doi>
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2003. The superwind mass-loss rate of the metal-poor carbon star LI-LMC 1813 in the LMC cluster KMHK 1603. MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, vol. 341(4), 1205-1216. link>
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2003. Infrared stellar populations in the central parts of the Milky Way galaxy. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 338, 857-879. doi>
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2003. Far infra-red emission from NGC7078: First detection of intra-cluster dust in a globular cluster. Astronomy and Astrophysics.
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2003. ISOGAL: a deep survey of the obscured inner Milky Way wih ISO at 7 mu m and 15 mu m and with DENIS in the near-infrared. Astronomy and Astrophysics. doi>
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2003. Long period variables detected by ISA in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Astronomy and Astrophysics.
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2003. Obscured asymptotic giant branch variables in the Large Magellanic Cloud and the period-luminosity relation. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. doi>
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2003. Search for molecular emission from V838 Monocerotis. Astronomy and Astrophysics. doi>
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2003. V838 Mon: an L supergiant?. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
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2002. CK Vul: reborn perhaps, but not hibernating. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 35-38. doi>
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2001. Circumstellar masers in the Magellanic Clouds. ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, vol. 368(3), 950-968. link>
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2001. The peculiar cluster HS 327 in the Large Magellanic Cloud: Can OH/IR stars and carbon stars be twins?. ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, vol. 368(1), 239-249. link>
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2001. Modelling the orbital modulation of ultraviolet resonance lines in high-mass x-ray binaries. Astronomy & Astrophysics. doi>
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2000. DENIS and ISOGAL properties of variable star candidates in the Galactic Bulge. ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, vol. 362(1), 215-222. link>
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2000. Magnetospheric accretion and winds on the T Tauri star SU Aurigae - Multi-spectral line variability and cross-correlation analysis. ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, vol. 362(2), 615-627. link>
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2000. Mass-loss rates and dust-to-gas ratios for obscured Asymptotic Giant Branch stars of different metallicities. ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, vol. 354(1), 125-134. link>
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1999. Mass-loss rates and luminosity functions of dust-enshrouded AGB stars and red supergiants in the LMC. ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, vol. 351(2), 559-572. link>
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1999. The circumstellar envelope of AFGL 4106. ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, vol. 350(1), 120-128. link>
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1999. The composition and nature of the dust shell surrounding the binary AFGL 4106. ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, vol. 350(1), 163-180. link>
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1999. ISO observations of obscured Asymptotic Giant Branch stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud. ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, vol. 346(3), 843-860. link>
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1999. Luminous carbon stars in the Magellanic Clouds. ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, vol. 346(3), 805-810. link>
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1999. IRAS04496-6958: A luminous carbon star with silicate dust in the Large Magellanic Cloud. ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, vol. 344(2), L17-L20. link>
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1998. Discovery of H2O maser emission from the red supergiant IRAS04553-6825 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, vol. 337(1), 141-144. link>
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1998. Obscured asymptotic giant branch stars in the magellanic clouds IV. Carbon stars and OH/IR stars. ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, vol. 329(1), 169-185. link>
Other
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2010. The Effects of Red Supergiant Mass Loss on Supernova Ejecta and the Circumburst Medium. HOT AND COOL: BRIDGING GAPS IN MASSIVE-STAR EVOLUTION (vol. 425, pp. 279-288). link>
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2008. AGB stars as an origin of dust and gas in the interstellar medium of galaxies. ORIGIN OF MATTER AND EVOLUTION OF GALAXIES (vol. 1016, pp. 383-388). link>
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2008. Historic Mass Loss from the RS Ophiuchi System. RS OPHIUCHI (2006) AND THE RECURRENT NOVA PHENOMENON (vol. 401, pp. 90-100). link>
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2008. Silicate Dust in the Environs of RS Ophiuchi. RS OPHIUCHI (2006) AND THE RECURRENT NOVA PHENOMENON (vol. 401, pp. 260-268). link>
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2008. The connection between mass loss and nucleosynthesis. NINTH TORINO WORKSHOP ON EVOLUTION AND NUCLEOSYNTHESIS IN AGB STARS AND THE SECOND PERUGIA WORKSHOP ON NUCLEAR ASTROPHYSICS (pp. 323-330). link>
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2007. Estimation of the dust mass-loss rates from AGB stars in the Fornax and Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxies. WHY GALAXIES CARE ABOUT AGB STARS: THEIR IMPORTANCE AS ACTORS AND PROBES (vol. 378, pp. 268-274). link>
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2007. Infrared molecular bands of carbon-rich stars in nearby galaxies. WHY GALAXIES CARE ABOUT AGB STARS: THEIR IMPORTANCE AS ACTORS AND PROBES (vol. 378, pp. 450-455). link>
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2007. Molecules and dust grains in AGB stars in nearby galaxies - the influence of metallicities. UNSOLVED PROBLEMS IN STELLAR PHYSICS (vol. 948, pp. 357-364). link>
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2007. On determining the mass-loss rates of red giants and red supergiants based on infrared data. WHY GALAXIES CARE ABOUT AGB STARS: THEIR IMPORTANCE AS ACTORS AND PROBES (vol. 378, pp. 227-238). link>
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2007. Quantitative results on AGB mass-loss rates. WHY GALAXIES CARE ABOUT AGB STARS: THEIR IMPORTANCE AS ACTORS AND PROBES (vol. 378, pp. 251-261). link>
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2006. Mass loss from red giants in the Magellanic Clouds. Spitzer Space Telescope: New Views of the Cosmos (vol. 357, pp. 154-155). link>
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2006. Molecules in the AGB stars of nearby galaxies. Planetary Nebulae Beyond the Milky Way (pp. 131-135). link>
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2006. On the metallicity dependence of the winds from red supergiants and asymptotic giant branch stars. Stellar Evolution at Low Metallicity: Mass Loss, Explosions, Cosmology (vol. 353, pp. 211-224). link>
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2003. Three micron spectra of carbon stars in the large magellanic cloud. MASS-LOSING PULSATING STARS AND THEIR CIRCUMSTELLAR MATTER: OBSERVATIONS AND THEORY (vol. 283, pp. 259-260). link>
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2003. Young stars and their circumstellar disks in the sigma orionis cluster. OPEN ISSUES IN LOCAL STAR FORMATION (vol. 299, pp. 55-62). link>
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2001. Red giants in ISOGAL: Tracers of the evolution of the galaxy. TETONS 4: GALACTIC STRUCTURE, STARS, AND THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM (vol. 231, pp. 36-44). link>
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2000. ISO spectroscopy of AGB stars in the LMC. ISO BEYOND THE PEAKS (vol. 456, pp. 161-164). link>
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2000. The circumstellar environment of the TTS SU Aurigae. DISKS, PLANETESIMALS, AND PLANETS, PROCEEDINGS (vol. 219, pp. 181-186). link>
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1999. Evolution and mass loss of AGB stars in the Magellanic Clouds. UNIVERSE AS SEEN BY ISO, VOLS I AND II (vol. 427, pp. 273-276). link>
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1999. ISO observations of AGB and post-AGB stars. UNIVERSE AS SEEN BY ISO, VOLS I AND II (vol. 427, pp. 219-228). link>
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1999. ISO observations of AGB stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud. STELLAR CONTENT OF LOCAL GROUP GALAXIES (pp. 95-99). link>
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1999. ISOCAM and DENIS survey of 0.5 square degrees in the Bar of the LMC detection of the whole TP-AGB star population. UNIVERSE AS SEEN BY ISO, VOLS I AND II (vol. 427, pp. 369-371). link>
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1999. ISOCAM and DENIS survey of 0.5 square degrees in the Bar of the LMC. Detection of the whole TP-AGB star population. ASYMPTOTIC GIANT BRANCH STARS (pp. 561-566). link>
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1999. Obscured asymptotic Giant Branch stars in the Magellanic Clouds. ASYMPTOTIC GIANT BRANCH STARS (pp. 567-572). link>
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1999. Obscured Asymptotic Giant Branch stars in the Magellanic Clouds. NEW VIEWS OF THE MAGELLANIC CLOUDS (pp. 387-388). link>
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1998. Evolution and mass loss of AGB stars in the small magellanic cloud. ASTROPHYSICS AND SPACE SCIENCE (vol. 255, pp. 399-400). link>
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1998. Infrared observations of high-mass X-ray binaries. ASTROPHYSICS AND SPACE SCIENCE (vol. 255, pp. 199-204). link>
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1998. ISO spectroscopy of AGB stars in the magellanic clouds. ASTROPHYSICS AND SPACE SCIENCE (vol. 255, pp. 391-397). link>
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1998. ISO'S view on AFGL 4106. ASTROPHYSICS AND SPACE SCIENCE (vol. 255, pp. 469-475). link>
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1998. Obscured AGB stars in the LMC. ASTROPHYSICS AND SPACE SCIENCE (vol. 255, pp. 403-404). link>
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1998. The red supergiant IRAS04553-6825 in the LMC. ASTROPHYSICS AND SPACE SCIENCE (vol. 255, pp. 405-406). link>
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1997. ISO spectrophotometry of age stars in the Magellanic clouds. FIRST ISO WORKSHOP ON ANALYTICAL SPECTROSCOPY (vol. 419, pp. 303-304). link>
- T2 Astrophysics Laboratory (module leader)
- PHY-20001 Galaxies (module leader)
- PHY-20008 Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics (module leader)
- PHY-30025 Life in the Universe (module leader)

