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02/07/2009:
Saturday Morning Physics
Four-Hundred Years of Cosmic Discovery: Celebrating the International Year of Astronomy
10:30 AM, 170 & 182 Dennison
Speaker: Professor Timothy McKay (UM Physics)
During the summer of 1609, Galileo Galilei first turned his hand-made telescope to the sky, and our isolation from the cosmos was over. This talk will review, at breakneck speed, the ensuing 400 years of progress in astrophysics. We will see how generations of rashly curious scientists, armed with increasingly ingenious instruments, have erased the division between Earth and sky. We will also join the world in recognizing 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy.
Click here to download Professor McKay's presentation (.pptx format)
02/14/2009:
Saturday Morning Physics
How Did Earth Get Its Water?
10:30 AM, 170 & 182 Dennison
Speaker: Professor Ted Bergin (UM Astronomy)
In this talk we will explore the chemistry of our own origins with a focus on water, the most important molecule for life on our planet. We will discuss how water is formed in the depths of interstellar space and is incorporated into the young Earth. We will also consider whether and how other water-rich planets might be found.
Click here to download Professor Bergin's presentation (.ppt format)
03/07/2009:
Saturday Morning Physics
Building Planets: When and How?
10:30 AM, 170 & 182 Dennison
Speaker: Professor Nuria Calvet (UM Astronomy)
Over the past five years, the Spitzer Space telescope has made it possible to conduct large surveys at sensitivities and wavelengths that were formerly unattainable from the ground. These surveys have given us unprecedented information on where stars form, what is the nature of their surrounding disks, and how and when planets begin to form on those disks. We will review this information in this talk.
Click here to download Professor Calvet's presentation (.ppt format)
03/14/2009:
Saturday Morning Physics
Amateur Astronomy: From Ann Arbor to the Universe
10:30 AM, 170 & 182 Dennison
Speaker: University Lowbrow Astronomers (an Ann Arbor-based astronomy community)
Astronomy is not just for the professionals. Everyone can explore planets, comets, star clusters and galaxies using backyard telescopes and binoculars. In this talk, the University Lowbrow Astronomers will show us how.
Click here to download the Lowbrow Astronomers' presentation (.ppt format)
03/21/2009:
Saturday Morning Physics
Supermassive Black Holes and the Evolution of Galaxies
10:30 AM, 170 & 182 Dennison
Speaker: Professor Doug Richstone, Lawrence H. Aller Professor of Astronomy (UM Astronomy)
Supermassive black holes have been hinted at by power of quasars discovered in the 1960s. Their existence and ubiquity was only firmly established in the 1990s. They have been with us since the birth of galaxies and influence galaxy structure in ways we can see, and probably others not yet understood.
Click here to download Professor Richstone's presentation (.ppt format)
03/28/2009:
Saturday Morning Physics
Black Holes Along the Cosmic Time
10:30 AM, 170 & 182 Dennison
Speaker: Professor Marta Volonteri (UM Astronomy)
We detect "supermassive" black holes in galaxy centers today. Their masses can be millions or billions or suns, almost as massive as a dwarf galaxy. What are the origins of these black holes? Professor Volonteri will discuss how these black holes were formed shortly after the Big Bang, and what their role on our galaxy is.
Click here to download Professor Volonteri's presentation (.ppt format)
04/04/2009:
Saturday Morning Physics
Milky Way Galaxy: Keeper of the Darkest Secrets of the Universe
10:30 AM, 170 & 182 Dennison
Speaker: Professor Oleg Gnedin (UM Astronomy)
Our cosmic backyard contains keys to the biggest questions in the Universe: the nature and structure of dark matter. Professor Gnedin will discuss current theoretical and observational studies of the distribution of dark matter on smallest scales and the search for the dark matter particle.
Click here to download Professor Gnedin's presentation (.ppt format)
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