Events

What's This Universe Thing Made Of, Anyway?

What do you think of when you imagine the Universe? Do you picture stars? planets? galaxies? What if we told you that everything you pictured - everything we can see or interact with - only comprises 5% of the universe? In the final Universe @ Home of the season, we explore the other 95%. Learn about the mysterious nature of Dark Matter and Dark Energy, how we know they exist, and how astronomers are trying to uncover the secrets of these dark facets of our Universe...

The Theory of General Relativity (And You)

Right now, astronauts on the International Space Station are moving faster through time than you are. Similarly, your head is moving very slightly faster than your feet. These things are a result of the General Theory of Relativity, which states that Earth's gravity warps the space and time that we live in. In this talk, we'll discuss a few ways that general relativity is currently affecting you on Earth, and how astronomers have measured these effects in space.

Light Pollution: The Loss of the Night Sky

When people think of pollution, light isn't usually the first thing that comes to mind. However, light pollution can be just as harmful to humans and the environment. Not only do the stars become invisible when inside a major city full of bright lights, but sleep schedules of both humans and animals are negatively affected as well. Luckily, we can take action to halt the progression of light pollution and easily reverse it.

Galaxy Clusters: Nature’s Giant Magnifying Glasses

Galaxy Clusters are vast concentrations of many hundreds of galaxies bound together by gravity.  Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts that if light traveling towards us passes close to such a massive object, its path will be bent, and it will take longer for the light to reach us. Indeed, galaxy clusters act as giant and spectacular magnifying glasses that not only magnify background galaxies but also create multiple images of them. In this lecture, Professor Kelly talked about what happens when a massive star explodes as a luminous supernova in one of those distant, multiply imaged galaxies. He also described a recent discovery that individual stars in galaxies more than halfway across the universe can become so highly magnified by galaxy clusters that we can see them one-by-one from Earth.

Find out more about the MIfA Public Lecture Series

Earthquakes? On Mars? A Brief Overview of the InSight Lander

The InSight lander touched down on Mars in late 2018. Since then it has studied the internal heat flow and seismic activity in the red planet. The goal is to learn about the internal structure and composition of Mars, which could provide insight into the formation of other rocky planets such as Earth. We'll give an overview of some of its more groundbreaking discoveries.

Activity: In crossword and NASA Pi in the Sky activity after the talk.

The Cosmic Terminus: Quasars and Accretion Disks

The brightest shining lights in the universe glimmer from the darkest objects that populate it: black holes. However because of the massive presence of angular momentum these spheres of annihilation create whirlpools of matter, rather than it simply falling in. These material vortexes are under such strain that they glow brighter than any star. We'll discuss what angular momentum is, why black holes have it, and the circumstances that Quasars and Blasars form in.

Perseverance: Coming Soon to a Red Planet Near You

The latest Mars rover, chock full of cool gadgets and gizmos - including a tiny helicopter! - will be touching down on Mars on February 18th. Tune in the day before Perseverance arrives at its destination to learn all about this exciting new window into Martian history, geology, and (potentially) life! As a bonus, find out how Perseverance was named and which of the prospective names we thought should have been picked.

Galactic Oddities

Welcome to the galactic menagerie! In our 2021 debut for Universe @ Home, we're talking about the weird ones - galaxies that are strange, deformed, out of place, or could even be missing their dark matter! Afterwards, ask questions about these cosmic curiosities before learning how you can help astronomers classify real galaxies through Galaxy Zoo.

Activity: Galaxy classification in Galaxy Zoo