Wendy Bauer

Wendy Bauer
wbauer@wellesley.edu
(781) 283-2707
Faculty Emerita
B.A., Mount Holyoke College; M.S., Ph.D., University of Hawaii

Wendy Hagen Bauer

Professor Emerita of Astronomy

Researches mass loss from red giants and supergiants and the UV spectrum of the long-period interacting binary VV Cephei.


Dr. Bauer's research has long centered on the process of mass loss from stars in the late stages of their lives. She is currently investigating the binary star system VV Cephei, in which a mass-losing supergiant star is orbited by a smaller, hotter companion. Every 20 years, the hot star goes into eclipse behind the supergiant, which allows us to study the structure of the different layers of the extended supergiant atmosphere. 

Dr. Bauer is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi, and has been a Harlow Shapley Visiting Lecturer for the American Astronomical Society. She is also a member of the International Astronomical Union, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, and the Council on Undergraduate Research.