.Astronomy Events
Fall 2023
JADES: Our First Year Capturing Light from the Dawn of Time
Speaker: Kevin Hainline (University of Arizona)Host: Justin Spilker
Following the successful launch in December of 2021 of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the global astronomical community has celebrated the exciting early results from the observatory. In this talk, Kevin Hainline, a member of the science team for the primary camera on board JWST, NIRCam, will discuss how [...]
Quasi-periodic Oscillations in Supermassive Black Holes
Speaker: Ashutosh Tripathi (Texas A&M University)Host: Grace Olivier
Quasi-periodic Oscillations (QPOs) have been observed in supermassive black holes across the whole electromagnetic spectrum. The claimed timescales range from a few tens of minutes to days, to weeks, and even a decade. Different models have been proposed to explain these QPOs which are primarily based on the timescales of periodicity. [...]Laser-interferometric and optomechanical technologies for astrophysics and Earth science
Speaker: Felipe Guzman (Texas A&M University)Host: Justin Spilker
Coherent light enables length measurements of exquisite sensitivity that lie at the core of fascinating technological advances and engineering applications, as well as observations in fundamental physics, astrophysics, geodesy, and measurement science in general. Novel technologies and measurement principles find application in areas that are paradigm-changing; not only in fundamental [...]Into the Dusty Universe with ALMA and JWST
Speaker: Jed McKinney (University of Texas, Austin)Host: Justin Spilker
Most of star-formation over the last 11 Billion years has happened within thick veils of dust, and in turn, dust shapes star-formation inside galaxies. Dust also absorbs and scatters light which can make optical probes of gas conditions difficult to measure, and hides very distant galaxies from even the most [...]Transforming Our Understanding of Galaxy Formation with the Power of JWST and ALMA
Speaker: Wren Suess (University of California, Santa Cruz)Host: Justin Spilker
Galaxies are one of the fundamental building blocks of our universe, yet despite a century of study we still don’t understand how these vast cosmic ecosystems formed. The key challenge is that we want to measure physical properties like stellar mass, but all we observe is light. Making the translation [...]