X-Ray Astronomy and the Invisible Universe
Date and Time
Wednesday, June 20, 2018 from 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm
Location
MIT Building E-51, Room 335
Presenters
Jonathan McDowell , Astrophysicist - jmcdowell cfa harvard edu
Summary
A tour of discoveries made with the Chandra X-Ray Space Telescope
Abstract
A fleet of remarkable space telescopes are sending back unprecedented views of our universe. The famous Hubble telescope takes the sharpest visible-light images, but only its cousins Chandra and Spitzer can see the invisible X-ray and infrared light that help complete the cosmic story. Chandra's X-ray camera can see erupting black holes, exploding stars and colliding galaxies - some of the the most energetic events in space.
Jonathan presents a tour of Chandra's discoveries and explains how it and other X-ray telescopes probe cosmic dramas, while infrared images unveil the cool, gentle process of star birth, and pictures taken with ordinary visible light give an overview of the everyday life of the galaxies. Combining all three views has been crucial to the astonishing discoveries astronomers have made in the past decade.
Bio
Jonathan is an astrophysicist working at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics as part of the Chandra X-Ray Center, which operates the Chandra X-ray Observatory spacecraft.
Attachments
- Jonathan McDowell's Personal Home Page
- Jonathan's Space Home Page
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
