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Caltech

Stargazing Lecture

Friday, September 9, 2016
8:00pm to 10:00pm
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Baxter Lecture Hall
The Invisible Universe Revealed: From Glowing Dust to Spinning Stellar Corpses
Anna Ho, Graduate Student, Caltech,

Your eyes are powerful: they can distinguish a vast range of colors, from reds to greens to purples. However, these "visible" colors are just a tiny fraction of the light in the universe. To reveal the rest, astronomers build telescopes with specialized detectors, like the Fermi Gamma-ray Telescope in space and the Very Large Array (VLA) of radio telescopes in New Mexico. These artificial "eyes" enable us to view previously invisible phenomena like interstellar dust and the spinning corpses of massive stars. In this talk, you will learn about some of the celestial objects and violent events that light up the universe in all its invisible colors, as well as the telescopes used to reveal them.

About the Series

Stargazing Lectures are free lectures at a public level followed by guided stargazing with telescopes (weather permitting). All lectures are now held at Baxter Lecture Hall. No reservations are needed. Lectures are 30 minutes; stargazing lasts 90 minutes. Stay only as long as you want.

Stargazing is only possible with clear skies, but the lecture, slideshow, and Q&A takes place regardless of weather.

For directions, weather updates, and more information, please visit: http://outreach.astro.caltech.edu.

Download the series flyer (PDF)

For more information, please contact Cameron Hummels by email at [email protected].