Astrophysics is a tricky business. Even the closest stars are trillions of miles away, too far to explore them up close any time soon. So astronomers and physicists have to rely on observations they can make from earth. To do this, every night, and day, a wide array of observatories all over the world are catching the light from distant galaxies, radio waves from the early universe and even ripples in space-time itself.
A series of free public talks will explore how these telescopes work and how we can use them to learn about the universe. Hosted by astrophysicist and postdoctoral researcher Christoph Welling, the series runs every Saturday morning at 11 a.m. from March 23 to May 11.
Welling will discuss modern observatories and what the light they detect can tell us about the objects it came from—as well as new types of observatories that detect other “messengers,” like cosmic rays, neutrinos or gravitational waves.
Sponsored by the Enrico Fermi Institute, the Arthur Holly Compton Lectures honor the Nobel Prize-winning physicist who led the pioneering 1942 UChicago experiment that produced the first self-sustaining nuclear reaction. The series has been running since 1976 in order to make accessible the remarkable recent developments in physical science to the public. Videos from past lectures are available at the Enrico Fermi Institute site.
The free talks are located at the Kersten Physics Teaching Center, 5720 S. Ellis Avenue, in room 106. Learn more here.
—Prof. Chuan He
