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Past Events

Event Date Summary
Frontiers of Astronomy: Jeremy Darling Thu. April 2nd, 2020
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

We regretfully are cancelling this talk due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Our Universe
Jeremy Darling (University of Colorado, Boulder)

What is the Universe?  What does it contain?  What is its history?  Its future?  This talk will explore the scale, age, and fate of the Universe.  We will learn how we observe the Universe, how we know what we know, and what is still not known.  We will also explore alternate Universes as a portal to understanding our own.

Bio: Jeremy Darling is an Associate Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Colorado,

Continue reading… Frontiers of Astronomy: Jeremy Darling

Frontiers of Astronomy: Benne Holwerde Thu. March 5th, 2020
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

Star Smog: The role of dust in how we perceive galaxies
Benne Holwerde (University of Louisville)

Galaxies are made up of stars, gas, dark matter and dust. That last ingredient is only a small amount of the total but radically changes our view of galaxies. Up to half the starlight in a given galaxy could be invisible thanks to the small amount of dust. Over decades, astronomy has sought to get away from dust to study the galaxies’ stars and to study the dust itself. This talk will focus on how dust dims and reddens the starlight in galaxies other than our Milky Way.

Continue reading… Frontiers of Astronomy: Benne Holwerde

Astronomy Colloquium: Benne Holwerde Thu. March 5th, 2020
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

What can the Occult Do for You?  Using overlapping galaxies to probe dust properties in galaxies
Benne Holwerde (U Louisville)

Interstellar dust is still a dominant uncertainty in Astronomy, limiting precision in e.g., cosmological distance estimates and models of how light is re-processed within a galaxy. When a foreground galaxy serendipitously overlaps a more distant one, the latter backlights the dusty structures in the nearer foreground galaxy. Such an overlapping or occulting galaxy pair can be used to measure the distribution of dust in the closest galaxy with great accuracy.

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Benne Holwerde

Astronomy Colloquium: Luca Casagrande Fri. February 28th, 2020
2:15 pm-3:30 pm

Cool stars for Galactic archaeology
Luca Casagrande (RSAA, Australian National University)

Owing to their long life-times, cool stars can be regarded as fossils from different epochs of the formation and evolution of the Galaxy. To write this narrative, accurate stellar parameters are vital. Here I focus on the importance of photometry to derive stellar parameters, as well as to assess selection functions, and target selection effects in present-day surveys. Cool stars are also characterised by solar like-oscillations, which allow us to determine stellar properties that otherwise we would not have access to. The study of solar-like oscillations is a powerful new tool to investigate stellar populations across the Galaxy,

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Luca Casagrande

Astronomy Colloquium: Steve Rodney Fri. February 21st, 2020
2:15 pm-3:30 pm

Stellar Explosions and Cosmic Lenses
Steve Rodney (USC)

A new field of study is opening in astrophysics, at the intersection of strong gravitational lensing and stellar transient science.  Very rarely a supernova (SN) or other stellar transient happens to appear in nearly perfect alignment behind a foreground galaxy or cluster.  In this case the general relativistic effect of gravitational lensing may boost the transient’s apparent brightness by several magnitudes and cause it to appear as multiple images on the sky. Only a handful of these strongly-lensed transients have been observed to date, but the sample will soon grow to hundreds with upcoming wide-field surveys like LSST and WFIRST.  

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Steve Rodney

Astronomy Colloquium: Danielle Berg Fri. February 14th, 2020
2:15 pm-3:30 pm

Bridging Galaxy Evolution Across Cosmic Time: Tracing the Interplay Between Massive Stars and Their Surrounding Gas with Spectroscopy
Danielle Berg (OSU)

The first stars and galaxies initiated the epoch of reionization (EoR) and provided the seeds from which all galaxy evolution grew. Knowledge of the properties of these galaxies are needed to understand ionizing photon production and escape, and will provide the crucial missing link needed to weave a coherent picture of galaxy evolution. I will present several programs that are establishing the needed framework to interpret galaxies from z~0‒10, bridging the present-day and early universe.

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Frontiers of Astronomy: Tabetha Boyajian Thu. December 5th, 2019
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

Planet Hunters and the Most Mysterious Star in the Galaxy
Tabetha Boyajian (Louisiana State University)

Abstract: The NASA Kepler Mission provided 4 year long, ultra-precise light curves for over 150,000 stars with a primary science goal of finding transiting planets. In Kepler’s field of view was KIC 8462852, a star citizen scientists identified to have unusual brightness variations.  This otherwise seemingly normal F star underwent erratic and completely unpredictable dips in flux ranging from <1% to more than 20%, with each event lasting from days to weeks at a time.  In addition to this puzzling variability,

Continue reading… Frontiers of Astronomy: Tabetha Boyajian

Astronomy Colloquium: Tabetha Boyajian Thu. December 5th, 2019
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

Planet Hunters and the Most Mysterious Star in the Galaxy
Tabetha Boyajian (Louisiana State University)

(Note: this is a “research-grade” version of Prof Boyajian’s public talk at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History later in the evening.)

Abstract: The NASA Kepler Mission provided 4 year long, ultra-precise light curves for over 150,000 stars with a primary science goal of finding transiting planets. In Kepler’s field of view was KIC 8462852, a star citizen scientists identified to have unusual brightness variations.  This otherwise seemingly normal F star underwent erratic and completely unpredictable dips in flux ranging from <1% to more than 20%,

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Tabetha Boyajian

Frontiers of Astronomy: Chris Mihos Thu. November 7th, 2019
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

The Future of the Cosmos
Chris Mihos (CWRU Astronomy)

Abstract: The universe around us is ever-changing: stars are born and die, galaxies collide and merge with one another, titanic explosions rock our galaxy, and the very fabric of the universe itself expands at an ever-increasing rate, carrying galaxies across the universe at breakneck speeds. In this talk, CWRU Astronomy’s Chris Mihos will give us a peek into the far future, using the physical laws of the universe to explore the changes in store for the Sun, the Galaxy, and the Universe as a whole.

Bio: Chris Mihos is a Professor of Astronomy at Case Western Reserve University.

Continue reading… Frontiers of Astronomy: Chris Mihos

Joint Astronomy and EEPS Colloquium: Emilie Dunham Thu. October 24th, 2019
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

Meteoritic Implications for the Galactic Environment of Solar System Formation
Emilie Dunham (Arizona State)

Short-lived radionuclides (SLRs) once present in the solar nebula can be used to probe the Solar System’s galactic formation environment. Isotopic analyses reveal that the first solids formed in the Solar System, calcium- and aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) in chondritic meteorites, formed with the live SLRs 10Be (t1/2 = 1.4 Myr) and 26Al (t1/2 = 0.7 Myr). Beryllium-10 is produced when high-energy ions, solar energetic particles or galactic cosmic rays (GCRs), spall nuclei in gas or dust. The most likely source of Solar System 10Be is inheritance of GCR-irradiated protosolar molecular cloud material,

Continue reading… Joint Astronomy and EEPS Colloquium: Emilie Dunham

Astronomy Colloquium: Sabine Hossenfelder Thu. October 17th, 2019
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

Dark matter – or what?
Sabine Hossenfelder (Franklin Institute for Advanced Studies)

In this talk I will explain (a) what observations speak for the hypothesis of dark matter, (b) what observations speak for the hypothesis of modified gravity, and (c) why it is a mistake to insist that either hypothesis on its own must explain all the available data. The right explanation, I will argue, is instead a suitable combination of dark matter and modified gravity, which can be realized by the idea that dark matter has a superfluid phase.

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Sabine Hossenfelder

Frontiers of Astronomy: Peter James Thu. October 3rd, 2019
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

What’s inside the Moon?
Peter James (Baylor University)

Abstract:  The Moon’s deep interior hides many clues about its formation and evolution. Unfortunately, it is easier to observe a star many light-years away than it is to peer through hundreds of miles of solid rock. We can nevertheless use geophysical techniques like seismic wave propagation, electromagnetic induction, and tidal deformation to learn about the interiors of planetary bodies. This talk will focus on recent exciting developments in the use of gravity anomalies; that is, geographic variations in the strength of the Moon’s gravitational pull, to study the Moon’s interior.

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Joint Astronomy and EEPS Colloquium: Peter James Thu. October 3rd, 2019
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

The crust of Mercury, as seen by the MESSENGER spacecraft
Peter James (Baylor U)

NASA’s MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft was the first craft to orbit Mercury, our solar system’s innermost planet. The MESSENGER mission team consisted of scientists from around the globe—including some from CWRU—and the data returned by MESSENGER revealed a planet unlike any other in our solar system. Mercury’s metal core is approximately 80% of the diameter of the planet, so Mercury is a type of a predominantly metal world that be orbiting around other stars. Mercury has a history of pervasive volcanic eruptions (no longer active) with distinct geochemical terranes,

Continue reading… Joint Astronomy and EEPS Colloquium: Peter James

Astronomy Colloquium: K.S. Dwarakanath Thu. September 19th, 2019
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

Diffuse Radio Emission in Galaxy Clusters
K.S. Dwarakanath (Raman Research Institute)

Galaxy clusters are some of the largest gravitationally bound structures in the Universe. Satellite observations during the early 70’s discovered diffuse X-ray emitting hot gas in the clusters. Cluster-wide non-thermal radio emission was also subsequently discovered in some of the X-ray bright clusters and has been a topic of multi-wavelength studies ever since.  This radio emission, which is not associated with any of the cluster galaxies, arises due to relativistic particles and magnetic fields in the Intra Cluster Medium and is  extended over millions of light years,

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: K.S. Dwarakanath

Astronomy Colloquium: Narendranath Patra Thu. September 12th, 2019
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

The missing satellite problem and the dark galaxies
Narendranath Patra (Raman Research Institute)

Though the Lambda-CDM model of cosmology has been immensely successful in explaining the observable universe at large scales, several inconsistencies yet persist between its predictions and observations in smaller scales. The `missing satellite’ problem is one of the significant ones. The number of predicted small galaxies within the virial radii of massive galaxies is found to be an order of magnitudes higher than what is observed as luminous satellites of such galaxies. Out of many proposed solutions to this problem, the ‘HVC-minihalo’

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Narendranath Patra

Astronomy Colloquium: Johnny Greco Thu. May 9th, 2019
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

Low Surface Brightness Galaxies Redux

Johnny Greco (Ohio State)
Low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies provide a unique testing ground for theoretical predictions of galaxy and star formation, stellar feedback processes, and the distribution and nature of dark matter. However, their defining characteristic—central surface brightnesses that are fainter than the night sky—makes them difficult to detect and study, leading to their underrepresentation in previous optical surveys and biasing our view of the full galaxy population. I will present results from our ongoing search for LSB galaxies with the Hyper Suprime-Cam Survey, a new generation imaging survey using the 8.2-meter Subaru Telescope on Mauna Kea.

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Johnny Greco

Astronomy Colloquium: Zac Berkowicz Thu. April 18th, 2019
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

Remote Sensing: from galaxies to deep ocean ridges
Zac Berkowitz (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute)

Often it is too costly, or physically impossible, to take measurements in-situ and one must instead rely on other means to gather the desired information remotely. Such remote sensing techniques are used broadly in Astronomy, after all the telescope is one of the most fundamental remote sensing instruments, but the problem is universal and a host of instruments and practices have been developed and applied to broad ranges of experimental observations. I will describe in some detail the unique challenges and similarities of three remote sensing programs I have participated in: Using FM radio as a radar to probe Ionospheric plasma irregularities (e.g.

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Zac Berkowicz

Frontiers of Astronomy: Stephen Zepf Thu. April 11th, 2019
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

Black Holes and Globular Clusters
Stephen Zepf (Michigan State Univ)

Black Holes have long excited the imagination of both scientists and the broader public. However, black holes are not easy to find because they emit very little light of their own. Often the best way to find a black hole is through its gravitational effect on a very nearby star. Seemingly excellent places to look for these interactions between stars and black holes are globular clusters with many stars all located very close together. I will talk about this search for black holes in globular clusters,

Continue reading… Frontiers of Astronomy: Stephen Zepf

Frontiers of Astronomy: Bill Janesh Thu. March 7th, 2019
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

Lions, Archers, and Bears: Dwarf Galaxies in the Local Group
Bill Janesh (Case Western Reserve University)

The Local Group is our cosmic neighborhood — home to the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy, and dozens of smaller objects called dwarf galaxies. Dwarf galaxies are valuable tools for answering questions about how the Universe works. How do stars and galaxies form and change over time? How do galaxies interact with each other? What is a galaxy, anyway? In this talk, we will take a closer look at some of the dwarf galaxies in the Local Group and how they can contribute to our knowledge of the Universe.

Continue reading… Frontiers of Astronomy: Bill Janesh

Astronomy Colloquium: Chelsea Spengler Mon. January 14th, 2019
2:15 pm-3:15 pm

Nuclear Star Clusters in Virgo: Scaling relations, stellar populations, and the role of environment
Chelsea Spengler (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile)

It is readily accepted that many galaxies are inhabited by dense, compact objects deep in their centers, manifesting as supermassive black holes and/or nuclear star clusters (NSCs). Their widespread presence and apparent similar scaling relations with properties of their hosts implies that these black holes and NSCs are two related flavours of central massive object that play essential roles in their hosts’ evolution. How do these NSCs form? How do they relate to black holes and their host galaxies?

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Chelsea Spengler

Frontiers of Astronomy: Kelsey Johnson Thu. December 13th, 2018
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

How were the most ancient objects in the universe formed?
Kelsey Johnson (University of Virginia)

Ancient remnants from the early universe surround our galaxy. These relics, know as “globular clusters” have the potential to provide insight into the prevailing physical conditions during an epoch that cannot be directly observed. While some progress has been made, and we now know globular clusters can still be formed during extreme episodes of star formation in the relatively nearby universe, the actual physical conditions that give rise to globular clusters has vexed both observers and theorists for decades. With the new capabilities of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) we have the ability to probe the birth environments of that gave rise to these ancient objects for the first time.

Continue reading… Frontiers of Astronomy: Kelsey Johnson

Astronomy Colloquium: Kelsey Johnson Thu. December 13th, 2018
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

How were the most ancient objects in the universe formed?
Kelsey Johnson (University of Virginia / NRAO)

Ancient remnants from the early universe surround our galaxy.  These relics, known as “globular clusters” have the potential to provide insight into the physical conditions that prevailed during an epoch that cannot be directly observed.  We now know that globular clusters can form during extreme episodes of star formation in the relatively nearby universe, but the actual physical conditions that give rise to globular clusters have vexed both observers and theorists for decades.   I will overview the discovery and follow-up of  pre-natal globular clusters ALMA,

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Kelsey Johnson

Frontiers of Astronomy: Rachel Bezanson Thu. November 15th, 2018
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

Galaxy Cannibals: The Evolution of Massive Galaxies Through Cosmic Time
Rachel Bezanson (University of Pittsburgh)

Massive galaxies reside in the densest and oldest regions of the Universe, yet we are only beginning to understand their formation history. Once thought to be relics of a much earlier time, the most massive local galaxies are red and dead elliptical galaxies, with little ongoing star formation or organized rotation. In the last decade, observations of their assumed progenitors have demonstrated that the evolutionary histories of massive galaxies have been far from static. Instead, billions of years ago, massive galaxies looked completely different –

Continue reading… Frontiers of Astronomy: Rachel Bezanson

Astronomy Colloquium: Rachel Bezanson Thu. November 15th, 2018
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

The Surprisingly Complex Lives of Massive Galaxies
Rachel Bezanson (UPittsburgh)

Massive galaxies reside in the densest and most evolved regions of the Universe, yet we are only beginning to understand their formation history. Once thought to be relics of a much earlier epoch, the most massive local galaxies are red and dead ellipticals, with little ongoing star formation or organized rotation. In the last decade, observations of their assumed progenitors have demonstrated that the evolutionary histories of massive galaxies have been far from static. Instead, billions of years ago, massive galaxies were morphologically different: compact,

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Astronomy Colloquium: Matt Walker Thu. October 25th, 2018
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

Dark Matter in the Smallest Galaxies
Matt Walker (Carnegie Mellon U)

The Milky Way’s dwarf-galactic satellites include the nearest, smallest, darkest and most chemically primitive galaxies known.  These properties make them sensitive probes of dark matter physics, if only we can learn their dynamical masses.  I will summarize recent results regarding the amount and spatial distribution of dark matter within these systems.  I will discuss implications for two lines of inquiry regarding the nature of dark matter: 1) tests of the standard ‘cold dark matter’ paradigm, and 2) searches for dark matter annihilation/decay signals.

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Frontiers of Astronomy: Benoit Famaey Thu. October 11th, 2018
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

Galaxy dynamics: a tale of light and darkness
Benoit Famaey (CNRS/University of Strasbourg)

Galaxy dynamics is confronted with one of the deepest problems of modern physics: the dark matter problem. The motions of stars and gas observed exceed what can be explained by the mass visible in those same stars and gas. Either (i) there is a vast amount of unseen mass in some novel form – dark matter – or (ii) the data indicate a breakdown of our understanding of dynamics on the relevant scales, or (iii) both. We shall review the observational evidence for an intimate connection between the baryonic surface density and the total gravitational field in galaxies.

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Astronomy Colloquium: Guillaume Thomas (Herzberg/NRC) Thu. October 11th, 2018
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

CFIS-u : a blue sky for the stellar halo
Guillaume Thomas (Herzberg/NRC)

The stellar halo of the Milky Way is an incredible source of information, whether about the formation and the evolution of our Galaxy or to trace the Galactic potential in three dimensions. Indeed, the stellar halo is largely populated by the old metal-poor stars originally lying in satellites galaxies or globular clusters that have being disrupted by tidal effects. The spatial distribution of the different populations of the stellar halo allow us to reconstruct the formation history of the Milky Way,

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Guillaume Thomas (Herzberg/NRC)

Astronomy Colloquium: Mousumi Das Thu. September 20th, 2018
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

Dark Matter in Galaxy Disks and its Implications for Star Formation in the Outer Regions of Galaxies
Mousumi Das (Indian Institute of Astrophysics)

It is well known that galaxy disks are embedded in massive dark matter halos which make their disks more stable against global disk instabilities. However, there may also be significant amounts of dark matter in galaxy disks as well, as indicated in the early studies of the vertical motion stars in our Galaxy. The disk dark matter is especially important for late type spiral galaxies that have extended neutral hydrogen (HI) gas disks,

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Astronomy Colloquium: Sally Oey Tue. September 11th, 2018
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

Toward Understanding Feedback from Local Lyman Continuum-Emitting Galaxies
Sally Oey (University of Michigan)

The fate of Lyman continuum (LyC) radiation from massive stars is a problem of fundamental importance to both galaxy evolution and cosmic evolution. What conditions and feedback processes allow these ionizing photons to escape their host galaxies? Only small samples of local LyC emitters are currently known, including a few nearby starburst galaxies and extreme Green Pea galaxies. They generally appear to be very young, intense, and compact starbursts triggered by galaxy mergers, and forming super star clusters. I will present what we’re starting to learn about the mechanical and radiative feedback in these systems,

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Research Talk: Sandeep Kumar Kataria Mon. July 30th, 2018
4:00 pm-5:00 pm

The Impact of Bulges on Bar Formation and Bar Pattern Speed in Disk Galaxies
Sandeep Kumar Kataria (Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore)

We use N-body simulations of bar formation in an isolated galaxy to study the effect of bulge mass and bulge concentration on bar formation and bar pattern speed. Two sets of models are generated, one that has a dense bulge and high surface density disk and a second model that has a less concentrated bulge and a lighter disk. Our simulations of both the models show that there is an upper cut-off in bulge to disk mass ratio Mb/Md above which bars cannot form;

Continue reading… Research Talk: Sandeep Kumar Kataria

Astronomy Colloquium: Keren Sharon Tue. April 24th, 2018
2:30 pm-3:30 pm

The Universe, Magnified: The Power of Gravitational Lensing
Keren Sharon (Michigan)
When did the Universe form its first galaxies? What do galaxies look like at the epoch when the Universe formed most of its stars? Some of the answers to those questions (and others) await a new generation of large ground and space based telescopes. In the meanwhile, strong gravitational lensing has become a useful tool to boost the power of present day telescopes, enabling detailed studies of galaxies that are otherwise either too dim or have too small of an angular size on the sky. 

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Frontiers of Astronomy: Other Earths and Origins of Life Thu. April 12th, 2018
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

Other Earths and Origins of Life
Dimitar Sasselov, Harvard University

The lecture will discuss the new field of scientific research on the emerging frontier where astronomy meets biochemistry. In the past year astronomers have discovered planets that resemble Earth around nearby stars and now prepare to explore them with a new generation of telescopes. In the meantime, chemists and biologists have narrowed down the environments necessary for early forms of Earth life and are helping the astronomers in defining their targets. The search is on!

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Astronomy Colloquium: Dimitar Sasselov Thu. April 12th, 2018
4:00 pm-5:00 pm

Ocean Worlds: from Familiar to Exotic and Extreme Planets
Dimitar Sasselov (Harvard)
Water is a common molecule in the the galaxy and an abundant bulk component of planets – like Neptune, far from their stars. Liquid water – a precious solvent,  might be significantly more rare. Exoplanet exploration is both motivated by the search for surface liquid water and is helping us understand the wide diversity of ocean worlds. Such understanding is necessary if we are to succeed in the search for planetary conditions that could lead to the emergence of life.

(Note special day and time)

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Dimitar Sasselov

Frontiers of Astronomy: The New Moon Thu. March 1st, 2018
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

The New Moon
Brett Denevi, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Although we may not think of the Moon as a dynamic place (the first lunar explorers described the landscape’s “magnificent desolation”), its past was one of intense bombardment, floods of lavas, and intrusive volcanism, and even today it continues to change. Understanding the Moon’s past and present may provide our best opportunity to gain new insights topics as diverse as the early evolution of the Solar System and the timeline of the first development of life on Earth. The Moon also yields insights into how a planetary body evolves from a fiery magma ocean to a solid world still cooling off today,

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Astronomy Colloquium: Brett Denevi Thu. March 1st, 2018
2:30 pm-3:30 pm

Our Goals for Lunar Science and Exploration
Brett Denevi (JHU/APL)

NASA has recently announced plans to refocus its attention on the Moon as a cornerstone for Solar System science and exploration. However, similar announcements were made in the not-so-distant past, only to be cancelled before they could come to fruition. What have we learned along the way? And what can we learn from new orbital and landed missions to the Moon? I will present recent highlights in lunar science, the highest priority lunar science goals as determined by the National Research Council, and some of the ways we will seek to answer those questions.

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Astronomy Colloquium: Caitlin Casey Tue. February 13th, 2018
2:30 pm-3:30 pm

The Universe’s Most Extreme Star-Forming Galaxies in the Most Extreme Environments
Caitlin Casey (Texas)

Dusty star-forming galaxies host the most intense stellar nurseries in the Universe. Their unusual characteristics (star formation rates of 200-2000 Msun/yr, compared to the Milky Way’s 1 Msun/yr) pose a unique challenge for cosmological simulations of how galaxies form and evolve, particularly in the first few billion years after the Big Bang. Although rare today, these unusual galaxies were factors of 1000 times more prevalent 10 billion years ago, contributing significantly to the buildup of the Universe’s stars during catastrophic galaxy-galaxy collisions that ignited shortlived but extremely powerful bursts of star formation.

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Astronomy Colloquium: Cameron McBride Tue. January 30th, 2018
2:30 pm-3:30 pm

Data Science: The what, why, and how of my transition from Science to Tech
Cameron McBride (Rubicon Project)

Data science continues to explode as a field as the industrial need for scientific rigor grows. It can be referred to by many names: machine learning, artificial intelligence, statistics, science, or sometimes even software engineering. I trained to be an academic scientist, and did research in extragalactic astronomy and cosmology across four major research institutions and as part of an international collaboration. Over the past three years, I have worked for two startups and a larger corporation solving challenging problems across two fields.

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Astronomy Colloquium: Jillian Scudder Tue. January 16th, 2018
2:30 pm-3:30 pm

Title: The hunt for cosmic monsters: understanding galaxies in the confused FIR sky
Jillian Scudder (Oberlin)

Observing galaxies in the Far-Infrared (FIR) gives us a unique window into the star formation rates of very high redshift, dusty galaxies. These galaxies are generally thought to be forming stars at a prodigious rate, heating their dust within their host galaxy, which then radiates in the FIR. However, observing this luminous dust is difficult, even with a space-based telescope such as the Herschel Space Observatory, as the resolution of the images returned is quite poor. It is often assumed that a bright source in the FIR belongs to a single,

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Astronomy Colloquium: Mark Vogelsberger Thu. December 14th, 2017
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

Simulating Galaxy Formation: IllustrisTNG and beyond
Mark Vogelsberger (MIT)

In my talk I will describe recent efforts to model the large-scale distribution of galaxies with cosmological hydrodynamics simulations. I will focus on the Illustris simulation, and our new simulation campaign, the IllustrisTNG project. After demonstrating the success of these simulations in terms of reproducing an enormous amount of observational data, I will also talk about directions for further improvements over the next couple of years.

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Frontiers of Astronomy: Simulating the Universe Thu. December 14th, 2017
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

Simulating the Universe
Mark Vogelsberger (MIT)
Modern supercomputer simulations model the evolution of the Universe starting briefly after the Big Bang until today – spanning about 13.7 billion years. These simulations describe correctly the growth, structure, and composition of galaxies. I will give an overview of recent simulation efforts, and demonstrate that the virtual universes are nearly indistinguishable from the real Universe. However, our models are still not perfect and I will also show where simulations disagree with observational data and how we can improve our models to arrive at a better understanding of the evolution of our Universe.

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Astronomy Colloquium: Ben Monreal Tue. December 5th, 2017
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

hWAET: a ground-based telescope for exoplanet direct imaging
Ben Monreal (CWRU Physics)

In the literature on telescope conceptual design, there is a divide which at first glance seems unusual: space telescope design is a free-for-all while ground based concepts are very conservative. As an instrument-builder, although most of my work is on neutrinos and dark matter I am also wading into the understudied edges of ground-based telescope design. In this talk, I will introduce WAET, a new (but still fairly conservative) construction concept for large ground-based optical/IR telescopes. WAET is intended to use conventional components and prescriptions to get to huge apertures at extremely low cost.

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Astronomy Colloquium: Phil Hopkins Fri. November 17th, 2017
2:00 pm-3:00 pm

Stars Re-Shaping Galaxies
Phil Hopkins (Caltech)

The most fundamental unsolved problems in galaxy formation revolve around “feedback” from massive stars and black holes. I’ll present new results from the FIRE simulations which combine new numerical methods and physics in an attempt to realistically model the diverse physics of the interstellar medium, star formation, and feedback from stellar radiation pressure, supernovae, stellar winds, and photo-ionization. These mechanisms lead to ‘self-regulated’ galaxy and star formation, in which global correlations such as the Schmidt-Kennicutt law and the global inefficiency of star formation — the stellar mass function —

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Frontiers of Astronomy: The Universe on A Computer: The Formation of Galaxies, Stars, and Planets in a Violent Cosmos Thu. November 16th, 2017
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

The Universe on A Computer: The Formation of Galaxies, Stars, and Planets in a Violent Cosmos
Philip Hopkins, California Institute of Technology

Astronomers have now discovered planets around distant stars, the relics of the “first generation” of stars in the Universe, and the light from the first galaxies when the Universe was but a fraction of its present age. However, a human life is infinitesimally small compared to the cosmic time scales over which these systems evolved, so we see only snapshots, instants in time. To link them together and understand how our Universe evolved,

Continue reading… Frontiers of Astronomy: The Universe on A Computer: The Formation of Galaxies, Stars, and Planets in a Violent Cosmos

Astronomy Colloquium: Jason Wright Tue. November 7th, 2017
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

The Puzzle of Boyajian’s Star
Jason Wright (PSU)

I have been at the center of efforts to understand KIC 8462852, a strange star found during the Kepler mission. It exhibits deep, irregular “dips” or dimming events lasting days, up to 22% in depth, and appears to be dimming secularly on decadal timescales. As ever-more-contrived natural explanations are proposed and explored by my team and others, we continue to put together monitoring and target-of-opportunity programs to catch it “in the act” of dipping and determine the nature of the dips. I will discuss the families of possible solutions for this star,

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Jason Wright

Astronomy Colloquium: David Silva Fri. October 13th, 2017
11:00 am-12:00 am

NOAO Today and Tomorrow
David Silva (Director, NOAO)

The National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) is the U.S. national center for ground-based optical-infrared (OIR) astronomy. It is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA). The NOAO mission is to enable discovery for the research community-at-large through open access to world-class facilities, capabilities, services, and data products. At NSF request, AURA is developing a plan to create the National Center for OIR Astronomy (NCOA) by restructuring the Gemini Observatory,

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: David Silva

Frontiers of Astronomy: Mapping the Universe: New Vistas, New Lands Thu. October 12th, 2017
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

Mapping the Universe: New Vistas, New Lands
David Silva, National Optical Astronomy Observatory

To be human is to explore. Today’s astronomers are cosmic explorers, creating maps of the Universe, near and far. The earliest star maps were painted thousands of years ago on the walls of caves. Our maps today are spectacular, full of objects and phenomena that were completely undiscovered even 20 years ago. Yet, great mysteries remain. Is a civilization ending asteroid lurking in the darkness? Do Earth‐like planets orbit nearby stars and do they harbor life? How did our home galaxy, the Milky Way,

Continue reading… Frontiers of Astronomy: Mapping the Universe: New Vistas, New Lands

Astronomy Colloquium: Annika Peter Mon. September 25th, 2017
1:30 pm-2:30 pm

Twinkle, twinkle, little galaxy
Annika Peter (OSU)

The littlest galaxies have the potential to tell us the most about the nature of dark matter and about star formation in extreme environments. In this talk, I describe what they are telling us already, what the open questions are, and my approach to answering them. I will highlight new opportunities with the next generation of astronomical surveys.

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Annika Peter

Astronomy Colloquium: Amanda Kepley Tue. September 12th, 2017
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

Opening New Frontiers in the Study of Star Formation with the Next Generation of Radio Telescopes
Amanda Kepley (NRAO)
Much of what we know about the molecular gas that fuels star formation comes from observations in the Milky Way and other similar nearby galaxies. This sample only probes a relatively narrow range of galaxy properties and thus does not provide an effective test of how galaxy properties like mass, metallicity, and star formation rate affect star formation. With the advent of new instruments like Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the Green Bank Telescope (GBT), and the Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA),

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Amanda Kepley

Frontiers of Astronomy: The Frontier From Space Thu. April 13th, 2017
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

The Frontier From Space
Daniela Calzetti, University of Massachusetts – Amherst

In 2015 the Hubble Space Telescope celebrated its 25th anniversary. Hubble has produced a paradigm shift in how both astronomers and the general public understand the Universe, and it may be time to take stock of all the accomplishments of the many space missions undertaken by numerous agencies — ESA and NASA in particular — over the past 30 years. We will do this with an eye to set the stage for the next game‐changing space missions.

Daniela Calzetti is Professor of Astronomy at the Department of Astronomy,

Continue reading… Frontiers of Astronomy: The Frontier From Space

Astronomy Colloquium: Daniela Calzetti Thu. April 13th, 2017
2:30 pm-3:30 pm

The Scales of Star Formation – Insights from the UV
Daniela Calzetti (UMass)

Over two decades of observations from the Ultraviolet to the Infrared with a host of space missions, including the HST, Spitzer, Herschel, GALEX, etc. have enabled us to recover the census of both the intensity and the distribution of star formation within galaxies. This, in turn, is informing us on the physics underlying the links between star formation, feedback, and the natal gas from which stars form. I will present a few results of a recent HST treasury program that is building upon previous findings to shed light on the scales of star formation and their interlinks within galaxies.

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Daniela Calzetti

Astronomy Colloquium: Jay Strader Wed. March 22nd, 2017
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

Black Holes in Globular Clusters
Jay Strader (Michigan State University)

Hundreds of stellar-mass black holes form in the early lifetime of a typical globular star cluster. But, unlike the case for neutron stars, no bright X-ray binaries containing black holes have been observed in globular clusters, which led to theoretical predictions that most or all of the black holes should be efficiently ejected through dynamical interactions. I will highlight results from an ongoing survey using deep radio continuum and X-ray data to search for accreting black holes in Milky Way globular clusters, presenting evidence that black holes may indeed be common in globular clusters.

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Jay Strader

Frontiers of Astronomy: Our Future Off-Earth Thu. March 9th, 2017
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

Our Future Off-Earth
Chris Impey, University of Arizona

The Space Age is half a century old. Its early successes were driven by a fierce superpower rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States, which tended to obscure the fact that exploration and risk‐taking is built into human DNA. Decades after we last set foot on the Moon, and several years after the Space Shuttle was retired, the space activity is finally leaving the doldrums. A vibrant private sector led by SpaceX and Virgin Galactic plans to launch supplies cheaply into Earth orbit and give anyone the chance of a sub‐orbital joy ride.

Continue reading… Frontiers of Astronomy: Our Future Off-Earth

Astronomy Colloquium: Chris Impey Thu. March 9th, 2017
2:30 pm-3:30 pm

Science Literacy in the MOOC Era
Chris Impey (Arizona)

In a world shaped by science and technology, the persistently low level of science literacy of the general
public is a cause for concern. This talk will look at the science knowledge and beliefs of undergraduates,
using an instrument tethered in the biennial surveys conducted by the NSF for the National Science Board.
Even after taking several science courses, students have only a vague idea of how science works and their
habits of mind are influenced by pseudoscience and easy access online information of dubious quality.

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Chris Impey

Astronomy Colloquium: Ian Roederer Wed. March 1st, 2017
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

Heavy Metals from the First Stars to Today
Ian Roederer (UMichigan)

NASA’s Cosmic Origins program aims to address the question, “How did we get here?”  My work addresses this question through three broad themes: the nature of the first stars, the formation and evolution of the Milky Way and Local Group, and the origin of the elements.  I study dwarf galaxies, globular clusters, and stars in the halo using optical and ultraviolet high-resolution spectroscopic data from various telescopes on the ground and the Hubble Space Telescope.  I will present observations of heavy elements that change our understanding of when and how they were first produced in the early Universe,

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Ian Roederer

Astronomy Colloquium: Nelson Padilla Tue. February 21st, 2017
2:00 pm-3:00 pm

Angular momentum in galaxy formation simulations
Nelson Padilla (U Catolica de Chile)

In this talk I will present studies on the evolution of the angular momentum of galaxies in the EAGLE simulation where we try and identify the mechanisms that contribute to the growth of their angular momentum, including smooth mass accretion, mergers, and mergers with different degrees of alignment with the galaxy’s angular momentum.  We hope to be able to use these results to improve the way in which angular momentum is followed in more simplified models of galaxy formation including SAMs and HODs.

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Nelson Padilla

Astronomy Colloquium: Steinn Sigurdsson Wed. February 15th, 2017
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

How black holes get their kicks: dynamical evolution and coalescence
Steinn Sigurdsson (Penn State U)

Recent observations have increased interest in the possibilities of a significant population of black hole binaries in the local universe. Natal kicks may play a crucial role in the merger rate of stellar mass black holes. Dynamical evolution can lead to an enhanced interaction rate for compact binaries in dense stellar systems and a distinct and richer population of compact binaries. I discuss some of the issues related to black hole binary formation and coalescence, and the issue of retention in globular clusters.

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Steinn Sigurdsson

Astronomy Colloquium: Laura Lopez Wed. January 25th, 2017
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

Observational Assessment of Stellar Feedback in Nearby Galaxies
Laura Lopez (Ohio State U)

Massive stars have a profound astrophysical influence throughout their tumultuous lives and deaths. Stellar feedback – the injection of energy and momentum by stars to the interstellar medium (ISM) – occurs through a variety of mechanisms: radiation, photoionization heating, winds, jets/outflows, supernovae, and cosmic-ray acceleration. Despite its importance, stellar feedback is cited as one of the biggest uncertainties in astrophysics today, stemming from a dearth of observational constraints and the challenges of considering many feedback modes simultaneously. In this talk, I will discuss how a systematic approach to multiwavelength observations can be used to overcome these issues.

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Laura Lopez

Astronomy Colloquium: Michael Skrutskie Fri. December 9th, 2016
11:00 am-12:00 pm

Diffraction-limited Mid-Infrared Imaging with the 23-meter Large Binocular Telescope
Michael Skrutskie (Virginia)

While the world awaits the construction of the Giant Magellan Telescope, Thirty Meter Telescope, and the European Extremely Large Telescope, the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) at Mt. Graham, Arizona represents the first operating version of an “Extremely Large Telescope”.  The LBT consists of two 8.4-meter primary mirrors on a single alt-azimuth mount separated, center to center, by 14.4-meters creating an aperture that is nearly 23 meters in extent in one dimension.   The University of Arizona’s Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI) coherently combines the light from the two primary mirrors enabling diffraction-limited imaging at a resolution set (on one axis) by the full extent of the 23-meter aperture. 

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Michael Skrutskie

Frontiers of Astronomy: The Quest for Infinite Telescope Aperture: Are We There Yet? Thu. December 8th, 2016
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

The Quest for Infinite Telescope Aperture: Are We There Yet?

Michael Skrutskie, University of Virginia

Since the invention of the telescope somewhere in the Netherlands around the end of the 16th century one thing has generally mattered most to builders and users of these instruments… larger apertures collect more light and reveal finer detail, ultimately opening the door to studies ranging from observations of the most distant observable universe, the direct detection and characterization of extrasolar planets, and “spacecraft quality” observations of Solar System objects. Individual institutions, entire nations, and now consortia of nations are striving to build bigger and better telescopes.

Continue reading… Frontiers of Astronomy: The Quest for Infinite Telescope Aperture: Are We There Yet?

Astronomy Colloquium: Monica Valluri Wed. November 30th, 2016
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

Using the Stellar Halo to Probe the Assembly of the Milky Way
Monica Valluri (U Michigan)
Over the next decade there will be an explosion of high quality kinematical data on hundreds of millions of stars in the Milky Way’s stellar halo. We are using cosmological hydrodynamical simulations to explore what we can learn about the detailed assembly history of the Milky Way from these data. We have analyzed orbits of halo stars and correlations between orbital properties and intrinsic stellar properties such as stellar ages and metallicities. I will discuss what halo orbits can tell us about halo assembly.

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Monica Valluri

Astronomy Colloquium: Kelly Holley-Bockelmann Thu. November 10th, 2016
2:30 pm-3:30 pm

Building Supermassive Black Hole Binaries
Kelly Holley-Bockelmann (Vanderbilt)

Astronomers now know that supermassive black holes reside in nearly every galaxy. Though these black holes are an observational certainty, nearly every aspect of their evolution — from their birth, to their fuel source, to their basic dynamics — is a matter of lively debate. In principle, gas-rich major galaxy mergers are key to generate the central stockpile of fuel needed for a low mass central black hole ‘seed’ to grow quickly and efficiently into a supermassive one. When the black holes in each galaxy meet, they form a supermassive binary black hole,

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Kelly Holley-Bockelmann

Frontiers of Astronomy: A Space‐time Symphony of Gravitational Waves Thu. November 10th, 2016
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

A Space‐time Symphony of Gravitational Waves
Kelly Holley-Bockelmann, Vanderbilt University

On February 11, 2016, scientists announced the first detection of gravitational waves, a Nobel Prize‐level achievement and a profound moment for humankind. Prior to that moment, the only way we learned about the distant Universe is through the light we received. Light revealed that we live in an extraordinarily beautiful expanding and accelerating Universe — full of exoplanets, stellar explosions, other galaxies, and dark matter that pervades everything. And now, humanity has observed the ripples in space‐time caused by the motion of massive objects like black holes;

Continue reading… Frontiers of Astronomy: A Space‐time Symphony of Gravitational Waves

Astronomy Colloquium: Ed Moran Wed. October 26th, 2016
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

AGN unification: the hidden truth
Ed Moran (Wesleyan U)

Seyfert galaxies have been traditionally classified into two groups based on the presence (type 1) or absence (type 2) of broad permitted emission lines in their optical spectra.  The discovery of polarized broad lines in a number of narrow-line Seyferts has indicated that such objects are in fact normal Seyfert 1 nuclei whose innermost regions are obscured from our direct view by a dense, torus-like structure.  By establishing a link between the two main classes of Seyfert galaxies, spectropolarimetry has led to significant progress in our understanding of the physics of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). 

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Ed Moran

Astronomy Colloquium: Doug Hamilton Fri. October 14th, 2016
11:00 am-12:00 pm

The Origin of Titan and Hyperion
Doug Hamilton (Maryland)

Titan is arguably the Solar System’s most unusual satellite. It is fifty times more massive than Saturn’s other moons and is the only satellite with a substantial atmosphere. Titan shares a unique resonance with nearby Hyperion, but otherwise sits in a particularly large gap between Rhea and Iapetus. Titan has the largest eccentricity of all Saturn’s regular satellites and has a reasonably large orbital tilt; its distant neighbor Iapetus has an even more impressive eight degree free inclination. Hyperion itself is a mystery, with its unusual orbit,

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Doug Hamilton

Frontiers of Astronomy: Pluto’s Lonely Ice Cap Thu. October 13th, 2016
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

Pluto’s Lonely Ice Cap

Doug Hamilton, University of Maryland

The icy white heart of Pluto became an instant sensation after the 2015 New Horizons flyby, featured on websites, blogs, and T‐shirts worldwide. The actual feature on Pluto is composed of frozen nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and methane, substances that can all be either in the solid or gaseous states at the cold temperatures of this distant world. Water plays the same role on Earth, being found as a solid in our twin polar ice caps, and Mars too has a pair of polar caps composed,

Continue reading… Frontiers of Astronomy: Pluto’s Lonely Ice Cap

Astronomy Colloquium: Bill Janesh Wed. September 28th, 2016
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

Needles in a Haystack: Searching for Optical Counterparts to Ultra-compact High Velocity HI Clouds
Bill Janesh (Indiana University)

Low mass galaxies, and particularly those with recent or active star formation, are excellent laboratories to answer questions about galaxy formation and evolution. Due to their faint nature, however, they are difficult to detect. Ultra-compact High Velocity HI Clouds present an opportunity for a targeted search for resolved stellar populations in reservoirs of cold gas in the Local Volume. The recently discovered low-mass star-forming galaxy Leo P is an example of one such object.  We have begun a campaign to obtain deep imaging of a sample of ~50 UCHVCs selected from Arecibo’s ALFALFA HI survey with the aim of detecting or placing constraints on their possible optical counterparts.

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Bill Janesh

Frontiers of Astronomy: Biography of the Milky Way Thu. April 14th, 2016
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

Biography of the Milky Way

James Bullock, University of California, Irvine

The Universe on the grandest scales is a vast network of galaxies.  Dotted along an expanding cosmic web,  galaxies shine with the collective light of thousands to billions of stars.  More than just collections of stars however, galaxies are dynamic ecosystems.  They allow multiple generations of stars to build new atoms that had never before existed.  They foster complex chemistry, even organic chemistry, in an otherwise sterile universe.  One galaxy, the Milky Way, is special to us.  Without it, we would not exist. 

Continue reading… Frontiers of Astronomy: Biography of the Milky Way

Astronomy Colloquium: James Bullock Wed. April 13th, 2016
11:00 am-12:00 pm

Cosmology and the Local Group
James Bullock (UCalifornia, Irvine)

The Local Group and the tiny galaxies that surround the Milky Way provide unique and detailed data sets for testing ideas in cosmology and galaxy formation. In this talk I will discuss how numerical simulations coupled with local “near-field” observations are informing our understanding of dark matter, the formation of the first galaxies, and the physical processes that act at the threshold of galaxy formation.

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: James Bullock

Astronomy Colloquium: Hongsheng Zhao Mon. April 11th, 2016
11:00 am-12:00 pm

New Physics Beyond Galaxies
Hongsheng Zhao (University of St Andrews)

I will show how current data on galaxies and clusters could be used to constrain the new physics of dark matter and relativity.  I will propose a new theoretical approach to integrate MOND and Dark Matter.

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Hongsheng Zhao

Astronomy Colloquium: Elena D’Onghia Wed. March 30th, 2016
11:00 am-12:00 pm

The Structure and Dynamics of the Milky Way Stellar Disk
Elena D’Onghia (U Wisconsin)

Ongoing surveys are revolutionizing our understanding of Galaxy dynamics. At the same time, advances in computational cosmology have led to improved predictions for the properties of galaxies in the LCDM theory. This simultaneous progress has transformed the field of the dynamics of the Milky Way and its dwarf galaxies into a powerful testing ground for both cosmological and galaxy formation theories.  One important result of the last decades is that cosmological simulations of the Milky Way overpredict by a large factor the number of dwarf satellite galaxies orbiting our Galaxy.

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Elena D’Onghia

Astronomy Colloquium: Kevin Stevenson Wed. March 16th, 2016
11:00 am-12:00 pm

Today’s Exo-Weather Forecast: Hot and Humid with a Chance of Clouds
Kevin Stevenson (Chicago)

Planet-finding surveys have revealed thousands of confirmed exoplanets and candidates awaiting verification.  Many of these objects were discovered indirectly using the transit technique, which is a powerful tool that has transformed our understanding of planetary system architecture.  Furthermore, this technique has provided extraordinary insights into some of these planets’ atmospheric compositions and thermal structures, thus revealing unexpected discoveries and altering our perspective of these worlds.  One of the most outstanding challenges in exoplanet characterization is understanding the prevalence of obscuring clouds and hazes in their atmospheres.

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Kevin Stevenson

Astronomy Colloquium: Kathryn Johnston Thu. March 3rd, 2016
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

Dark Matter and Stellar Halos around Galaxies:  Formation, Histories and Structure
Kathryn Johnston, Columbia University

The existence of spectacular low-surface-brightness features – remnants of past mergers – surrounding many galaxies has been known about for many decades.  A major accomplishment for more recent, large scale stellar surveys of the Milky Way has been the discovery of a multitude of debris from dead and dying small satellites encircling our own Galaxy.  While these structures contain less than 1% of the light in the Universe and an even smaller fraction of the total mass their properties can be used to address fundamental topics,

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Kathryn Johnston

Frontiers of Astronomy: Galactic Cannibalism Thu. March 3rd, 2016
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

Galactic Cannibalism

Kathryn Johnston, Columbia University

Galaxies! Images of these objects are awe-inspiring – spirals of billions of stars, along with the gas and dust from which stars form, spinning slowly in the sky. Yet these majestic objects are thought to have formed quite violently through the agglomeration of smaller objects. Even our own home – the Milky Way galaxy – seems to be in the process of devouring several smaller galaxies! This talk examines why we think galaxies are cannibals in general, and what this means about the past and future evolution of the Milky Way in particular.

Continue reading… Frontiers of Astronomy: Galactic Cannibalism

Joint Phys/Astro Colloquium: John Monnier (Cancelled) Thu. February 25th, 2016
4:15 pm-5:15 pm

Cancelled due to inclement weather.

Astronomy Colloquium: Adam Leroy Wed. February 17th, 2016
11:00 am-12:00 pm

Star Formation-Driven Molecular Superwinds as Understood From the Two Nearest Starburst Galaxies (and a Small Survey)
Dr. Adam Leroy, Ohio State University

I will use the two nearest starburst galaxies: M82 and NGC 253 as examples to discuss the origin and fate of galaxy-scale molecular outflows driven by star formation. Outflows of interstellar gas driven by stellar feedback should be a key element in the interaction between galaxy disks and the huge reservoirs of gas and dust in the circumgalactic medium. They should carry metals and dust out of galaxy disks and may deplete future fuel for star formation.

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Adam Leroy

Astronomy Colloquium: Tony Sohn Wed. February 3rd, 2016
11:00 am-12:00 pm

Dynamics of Local Group Galaxies via HST Proper Motions
Tony Sohn (Johns Hopkins U)

The Universe evolves hierarchically with small structures merging and falling in to form bigger structures. Due to its proximity, the Local Group (LG) is the best place to witness and study these hierarchical processes in action as evidenced by e.g., the many stellar streams found around the Milky Way and M31. Stellar systems in the LG have therefore become the benchmark for testing many aspects of cosmological theories. Despite the advances in both observational and theoretical areas in the last decade or so,

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Tony Sohn

Astronomy Colloquium: Kristen McQuinn Wed. January 13th, 2016
11:00 am-12:00 pm

Leo P: Galaxy Evolution at the Faint-end of the Luminosity Function
Kristen McQuinn (University of Texas, Austin)

Theories of galaxy evolution have been tested by our a growing knowledge of low-mass galaxies. Much of the progress has been made studying the closest of satellites whose histories are inextricably linked to their massive host galaxy. Finding isolated galaxies to populate the faint-end of the luminosity function outside our group environment means looking farther afield – a task which has proven unavoidably problematic due to the intrinsic faintness of the systems.  One such galaxy, Leo P, has been discovered through the blind HI ALFALFA Survey.

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Kristen McQuinn

Frontiers of Astronomy: Gamma Ray Bursts: The Biggest Explosions Since the Big Bang Thu. December 10th, 2015
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

Gamma Ray Bursts: The Biggest Explosions Since the Big Bang

Edo Berger, Harvard University

Representing Nature’s biggest explosions since the Big Bang itself, gamma-ray bursts were first accidentally spotted in the 1960s by Department of Defense satellites hunting for terrestrial nuclear blasts. Prof. Berger will describe the ensuing decades-long quest to decipher the origin and energy source of these mysterious explosions.

Edo Berger is a professor of astronomy at Harvard University.  He received his B.S. degree from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1999, and his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 2004. 

Continue reading… Frontiers of Astronomy: Gamma Ray Bursts: The Biggest Explosions Since the Big Bang

Astronomy Colloquium: Edo Berger Thu. December 10th, 2015
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

Short-Duration Gamma-Ray Bursts and the Electromagnetic Counterparts of Gravitational Wave Sources
Edo Berger (Harvard)

Gamma-ray bursts are the most luminous and energetic explosions known in the universe.  They appear in two varieties:  long- and short-duration.  The long GRB result from the core-collapse of massive stars, but until recently the origin of the short GRBs was shrouded in mystery.  In this talk I will present several lines of evidence that point to the merger of compact objects binaries (NS-NS and/or NS-BH) as the progenitor systems of short GRBs.  Within this framework, the observational data allow us to determine the merger rate of these systems as input to Advanced LIGO,

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Edo Berger

Astronomy Colloquium: Kevin Croxall Wed. December 2nd, 2015
11:00 am-12:00 pm

Oxygen in the Local Universe: Establishing Order through CHAOS
Kevin Croxall (OSU)

The metal content of a galaxy is one of the most important properties used
to distinguish between viable evolutionary scenarios and strongly influences
many of the physical processes in the ISM. An absolute and robust
calibration of extragalactic metallicities is essential in constraining
models of chemical enrichment, chemical evolution, and the cycle of baryons
in the cosmos. Despite this strong dependence on abundance, the calibration
of nebular abundances from nebular emission lines remains uncertain.
Different calibrations of the abundance scale require different assumptions,

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Kevin Croxall

Frontiers of Astronomy: The History of the Milky Way Written in the Stars Thu. November 12th, 2015
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

The History of the Milky Way Written in Stars

Jennifer Johnson, Ohio State University

Our Galaxy, the Milky Way, did not always look as it does now, a multi-armed spiral galaxy with at least one neighborhood hospitable to life. The Galaxy has been growing and evolving for the last 13 billion years, creating billions of stars throughout its life. These stars, through their age, chemical composition, and motions, record the history of the Galaxy and provide a “fossil record” if we can observe enough of it to interpret it. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey has been observing stars,

Continue reading… Frontiers of Astronomy: The History of the Milky Way Written in the Stars

Astronomy Colloquium: Jennifer Johnson Thu. November 12th, 2015
3:00 pm-4:00 pm

The Secret Lives of Stars: Galactic History from the APOGEE Survey
Jennifer Johnson (Ohio State University)

The history of a galaxy can be traced through its stars: their compositions, their ages, and their motions. The Milky Way provides an ideal case for performing detailed Galactic archaeology to investigate the evolution of spiral galaxies. The SDSS-APOGEE spectroscopic survey, using a high-resolution, multi-object NIR spectrograph, has observed ~150,000 stars in the Galaxy, with particular emphasis on red giants in the Kepler field and in the dust-obscured regions of the disk and bulge.  I will discuss how we are using spectroscopic and asteroseismic results to understand metallicity gradients, 

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Jennifer Johnson

Astronomy Colloquium: Benoit Famaey Wed. October 21st, 2015
11:00 am-12:00 pm

Galactoseismology in the Milky Way

Benois Famaey, CNRS/Strasbourg

Current Galactic dynamical models still often rely on the zeroth order assumptions of a smooth time-independent and axisymmetric gravitational potential. First order perturbed models are those trying to isolate the effects of one main perturber, such as the bar or the spiral arms. In this talk, we show how a single internal perturber can generate horizontal and vertical bulk motions, in the form of “galactoseismic” oscillation modes. We also show that non-linear couplings can be present when multiple perturbers are taken into account simultaneously. We argue that,

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Benoit Famaey

Frontiers of Astronomy: 25 Years of the Hubble Space Telescope Thu. October 15th, 2015
8:00 pm-9:00 pm

25 Years of the Hubble Space Telescope

Frank Summers, Space Telescope Science Institute

In April 1990, astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery deployed the Hubble Space Telescope into Earth orbit, and launched a new era of astronomical discovery. Now, 25 years later, we celebrate a remarkable milestone for a space observatory whose ground-breaking investigations have brought revolutionary changes in our understanding from planets, stars, nebulae, and galaxies to the very frontiers of the cosmos. Explore the trials and triumphs of NASA’s first Great Observatory, and experience a compendium of some of the greatest imagery the universe has ever known.

Continue reading… Frontiers of Astronomy: 25 Years of the Hubble Space Telescope

Astronomy Colloquium: Frank Summers Wed. October 14th, 2015
11:00 am-12:00 pm

Frank Summers (STScI)
Truth and Beauty in Astronomy Visualization

The presentation of complex scientific ideas demands both precision and detail. The interpretation of even graphical representations generally requires specialized knowledge. Public-level visuals are difficult, and risk becoming over-simplified cartoon versions.

Astronomy, however, has gained favor with the public for its awe-inspiring images from the Hubble Space Telescope and other observatories. That visual splendor attracts a wide audience, creating a much smoother and natural entry into scientific topics.

Dr. Summers follows this path in creating astronomy visualizations that both engage and inform the public.

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Frank Summers

Astronomy Colloquium: Gail Zasowski Wed. September 30th, 2015
11:00 am-12:00 pm

Gail Zasowski (Johns Hopkins University)
New Tools for Galactic Archaeology from the Milky Way

One of the critical components for understanding galaxy evolution is understanding the Milky Way Galaxy itself — its detailed structure and chemodynamical properties, as well as fundamental stellar physics, which we can only study in great detail locally.  This field is currently undergoing a dramatic expansion towards the kinds of large-scale statistical analyses long used by the extragalactic and other communities, thanks in part to the enormous influx of data from multiple large space- and ground-based surveys.  I will describe the Milky Way and Local Group in the context of general galaxy evolution and highlight some recent developments in Galactic astrophysics that take advantage of these big data sets and analysis techniques. 

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Gail Zasowski

Astronomy Colloquium: David Merritt Wed. September 9th, 2015
11:00 am-12:00 pm

How Things Get Into (Supermassive) Black Holes

David Merritt, Rochester Institute of Technology

Gas near the center of a galaxy can find its way into the central black hole without much difficulty, but stars need to be nudged. The so-called “loss-cone problem” is well understood in the case of random gravitational encounters between the stars. But sufficiently close to a nuclear black hole, classical loss-cone theory breaks down, for two reasons: the orbits are quasi-Keplerian, and so maintain their orientations for many periods, violating the assumption of randomness; and general relativity begins to become important.

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: David Merritt

Astronomy Colloquium: Michelle Collins Wed. September 2nd, 2015
11:00 am-12:00 pm

The faintest galaxies as probes of cosmology and galactic evolution
Michelle Collins (Yale)

As the faintest galaxies we are able to observe in the Universe, the dwarf spheroidals can be thought of as the fundamental galactic unit. Within our Local Group, we are able to study these objects in extremely high detail, resolving their mass profiles, chemistries, and evolutionary histories. These measurements have led to several surprising results. One is that the masses of these systems appear to be lower than predicted by cold dark matter simulations. Additionally, dwarf galaxies are not distributed isotropically around their hosts,

Continue reading… Astronomy Colloquium: Michelle Collins

Dynamical Evolution of Very Young Stellar Sub-Cluster Fri. April 17th, 2015
11:00 am-1:00 pm

Dynamical Evolution of Very Young Stellar Sub-Clusters

Alison Sills, McMaster University

Recent observations of massive, young, nearby star-forming complexes are starting to probe the detailed structure of newly-forming star clusters. In particular, the MYStIX collaboration (Feigelson et al. 2013) have an extensive census of stars in 20 such regions, probing down to low masses and through significant interstellar extinction. Early results suggest that most star clusters form from a number of distinct subclusters, and that those subclusters themselves have interesting stellar age and mass distributions. In this talk, I will discuss results from a project to dynamically model very young,

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Stellar Mergers and Interactions: Yes, Virginia, Stars Do Collide Thu. April 16th, 2015
8:00 pm-10:00 pm

Stellar Mergers and Interactions: Yes, Virginia, Stars Do Collide

Alison Sills, McMaster University

Professor Sills will discuss strong interactions between stars in a variety of environments. Despite the vast (average) interstellar distances, stars are social creatures and tend to live in pairs, multiples, or groups. Under these circumstances, stars can, and do, modify each other’s mass, radius, composition, and overall evolution through gravitational encounters ranging from wind mass transfer in a binary system to complete stellar collisions and mergers. She will show how such events can change our understanding of particular stellar systems, how they can explain the properties of many unusual objects,

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Adventures in Data Science: An Astronomer Takes the Road Ever-More-Often Traveled By Wed. April 1st, 2015
11:00 am-1:00 pm

Adventures in Data Science: An Astronomer Takes the Road Ever-More-Often Traveled By

Craig Rudick, University of Kentucky

About two years ago I left my Astronomy postdoc position for a job in the “real” world. Since then I’ve been a Data Scientist at the University of Kentucky (in the IT Department on the staff/business side), analyzing UK’s internal data on students, faculty, classes, and other business operations. The first half of my talk will be about career issues: what a data scientist is, how and why I became one, lessons learned from job hunting, transferrable skills for students (and their advisors) to focus on,

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Interpreting Dwarf Galaxy Observations with Realistic Simulations Wed. March 18th, 2015
11:00 am-1:00 pm

Interpreting Dwarf Galaxy Observations with Realistic Simulations

Alyson Brooks, Rutgers University

The cosmological model based on cold dark matter (CDM) and dark energy has been hugely successful in describing the observed evolution and large scale structure of our Universe. However, at smaller scales, dwarf galaxy observations have long presented a challenge to CDM galaxy formation theory. Recently, high resolution cosmological simulations that include baryonic physics within a CDM context have finally been able to successfully reproduce many of the characteristics of dwarfs, including those characteristics that challenged CDM theory. I will present results from simulations of both isolated and satellite dwarf galaxies,

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Stars and Galaxies at the Dawn of Time Thu. March 5th, 2015
8:00 pm-10:00 pm

Stars and Galaxies at the Dawn of Time

Volker Bromm, University of Texas, Austin

How and when did the cosmic dark ages end? I will present the remarkable story of how the first stars and galaxies formed, a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. These first sources of light fundamentally transformed the early universe from an initially very simple state to one of ever increasing complexity. Until now, our knowledge of this period of cosmic dawn relies on supercomputer simulations. But over the next decade, a number of new-generation observational facilities, such as the James Webb Space Telescope and the Giant Magellan Telescope,

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The First Stars and Galaxies: The Run-up to the JWST Wed. March 4th, 2015
11:00 am-1:00 pm

The First Stars and Galaxies: The Run-up to the JWST

Volker Bromm, University of Texas, Austin

How and when did the cosmic dark ages end? I discuss the physics of how the first stars and galaxies formed, within the context of cosmological structure formation. I will address their feedback on the pristine intergalactic medium, and describe ways to probe their signature with next generation facilities. I will identify the key processes and outline the major remaining uncertainties.

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What do the smallest galaxies tell us about dark matter? Wed. February 11th, 2015
11:00 am-1:00 pm

What do the smallest galaxies tell us about dark matter?

Matt Walker, Carnegie Mellon University

I will discuss how to translate stellar kinematics observed in the nearest, smallest and and ‘darkest’ galaxies into a test of the standard hypothesis that dark matter consists of ‘cold’ and ‘collisionless’ (i.e., weakly interacting) particles. This model now seems to require that baryon-driven processes (e.g., energetic feedback from supernova explosions) alters the internal structure of galactic dark matter halos systematically with respect to predictions derived from cosmological N-body simulations. I will discuss future work that will let us judge whether such reconciliation is energetically feasible.

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Orion as a Laboratory of Protostellar Evolution: Results from the Herschel Orion Protostar Survey Wed. February 4th, 2015
11:00 am-1:00 pm

Orion as a Laboratory of Protostellar Evolution: Results from the Herschel Orion Protostar Survey

Tom Megeath, University of Toledo

The Orion molecular clouds are a remarkable laboratory for studying star formation across the mass spectrum and across the full range of environments in which stars form, from crowded clusters containing massive stars to relatively isolated low mass star formation. I will present results from the Herschel Orion Protostar Survey, or HOPS, a study of over 300 protostar in the Orion clouds with the Herschel, Spitzer, Hubble and APEX telescopes. The goal of this study is to study low to intermediate mass protostars in the Orion molecular clouds (but outside the Orion Nebula) from the earliest phases through the termination of mass infall.

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Mercury: New views from MESSENGER Wed. January 21st, 2015
11:00 am-1:00 pm

Mercury: New views from MESSENGER

Steve Hauck, Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, CWRU

More than 35 years after Mariner 10 made its third and final flyby of the planet Mercury MESSENGER (short for MErcury, Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) became the first spacecraft to orbit the planet in March of 2011. Among the primary goals of the MESSENGER mission are to map its surface, determine the composition of the planet and its exosphere, and to constrain the structure of its interior and the nature of the planetary magnetic field. We will discuss highlights of some of MESSENGER’s major discoveries and talk about the upcoming end of the mission.

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Probing Cosmic Acceleration with the Dark Energy Survey Thu. December 11th, 2014
4:00 pm-5:00 pm

Probing Cosmic Acceleration with the Dark Energy Survey

Josh Frieman, University of Chicago / FermiLab

The Nobel Prize in Physics for 2011 was awarded for the discovery that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating. Yet the physical origin of cosmic acceleration remains a mystery. The Dark Energy Survey (DES) aims to address the questions: why is the expansion speeding up? Is cosmic acceleration due to dark energy or does it require a modification of General Relativity? If dark energy, is it the energy density of the vacuum (Einstein’s cosmological constant) or something else?

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Probing the Dark Universe Thu. December 11th, 2014
8:00 pm-10:00 pm

Probing the Dark Universe

Josh Frieman, University of Chicago / FermiLab

Over the last two decades, cosmologists have made a remarkable discovery about our Universe: only 4% is made of ordinary matter—atoms, molecules, etc. The other 96% is dark, in forms unlike anything with which we are familiar. About 25% is dark matter, which holds galaxies and larger‐scale structures together, and may be a new elementary particle. And 70% is thought to be dark energy, which is driving the expansion of the Universe to speed up. This talk will introduce the Dark Universe, overview what we have learned about it,

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Globular Cluster Streams as Galactic High-Precision Scales Wed. November 19th, 2014
11:00 am-1:00 pm

Globular Cluster Streams as Galactic High-Precision Scales

Andreas Küpper, Columbia University

Tidal streams are promising probes of the gravitational potential of the Milky Way and of the clumsiness of its dark-matter halo. We model the tidal stream of the Milky Way globular cluster Palomar 5 (Pal 5), and show that the unique geometry of the problem yields powerful constraints on the model parameters characterizing the Local Standard of Rest (LSR), the Milky Way and Pal 5 itself. Using only SDSS data and a few radial velocities from the literature, we find that the distance of the Sun from the Galactic Center is 8.30+/-0.25 kpc,

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Directions to the Nearest Alien Earth-like Planet Thu. November 13th, 2014
8:00 pm-10:00 pm

Directions to the Nearest Alien Earth-like Planet

Sarah Ballard, University of Washington

Astronomers used to hedge at the question of whether the Sun and its system of planets are unusual in the cosmos. The study of exoplanets – planets around other stars – is relatively new. State-of- the-art instruments just brush up against the sensitivity to find planets similar to our very own planet Earth. I will summarize findings from the past couple years that contextualize Earth as one potentially habitable, rocky planet among many. However, the environments of these worlds are by-and-large astoundingly different from the conditions that have nourished life here at home.

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Choose Your Own Adventure: Multiplicity of Planets among the Kepler M Dwarfs Wed. November 12th, 2014
11:00 am-1:00 am

Choose Your Own Adventure: Multiplicity of Planets among the Kepler M Dwarfs

Sarah Ballard, University of Washington

The Kepler data set has furnished more than 130 exoplanetary candidates orbiting M dwarf hosts, nearly half of which reside in multiply transiting systems. I investigate the proposition of self-similarity in this sample, first posited by Swift et al. (2013) for the analysis of the five-planet system orbiting the small star Kepler-32. If we compare the predictions of one single mode of planet multiplicity and coplanarity against the Kepler sample, we can test whether we replicate the multi-planet yield of Kepler.

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A Tale of Three Neutrinos Wed. October 29th, 2014
11:00 am-1:00 am

A Tale of Three Neutrinos

Derek Fox, Penn State University

I will discuss recent work to identify the brightest sources of high-energy (e_nu > TeV) neutrinos in the cosmos, those amenable to detection by IceCube, ANTARES, and other high-energy neutrino facilities. In our first tale, a neutrino produced in the high energy-density, high Lorentz-factor outflow of a gamma-ray burst arrives in coincidence with the high-energy photons from that event. While these photons might trigger a burst detection by Swift or another GRB mission, they might alternatively fail to trigger; I will discuss how the Astrophysical Multimessenger Observatory Network under development at Penn State would help to identify these subthreshold coincidences.

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Do astronomical data contradict the existence of dynamically relevant particle cold or warm dark matter? Wed. October 8th, 2014
11:00 am-1:00 pm

Do astronomical data contradict the existence of dynamically relevant particle cold or warm dark matter?

Pavel Kroupa, University of Bonn

The dual-dwarf-galaxy theorem, according to which two types of galaxies must exist and which must be true in the standard model of cosmology, appears to be ruled by astronomical data: both types of dwarf galaxy, those with putative exotic dark matter and those known to not contain dark matter even if it were to exist, cannot be distinguished by observation. Furthermore, the arrangement of satellite galaxies in rotating disk-like vast near-polar structures around the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies and the frequent occurrence of anisotropic flattened satellite populations around major galaxies,

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Lifting the Dusty Veil: Understanding the Stellar Structure of Spiral Disks Fri. September 26th, 2014
12:30 pm-2:30 pm

Lifting the Dusty Veil: Understanding the Stellar Structure of Spiral Disks

Andrew Schechtman-Rook, University of Wisconsin

Measuring the vertical distribution of starlight in spiral galaxies can give valuable insights on both the formation and growth of these complex systems. Unfortunately the study of such structure outside of our Milky Way is significantly hampered by the presence of interstellar dust, which acts to attenuate light in a highly complex manner. The dust is preferentially distributed near the midplane, which makes studying that region extremely difficult. Using a combination of sub-arcsecond resolution near-infrared imaging and advanced radiative transfer modeling we have probed the stellar disk structure of several nearby edge-on spiral galaxies on vertical scales of less than 100 pc.

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Astrophysics’ Extreme Matter Experiments: Understanding the Diagnostics Wed. September 17th, 2014
11:00 am-1:00 pm

Astrophysics’ Extreme Matter Experiments: Understanding the Diagnostics

Chris Fryer Los Alamos National Lab

Astrophysical Transients (supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, kilanovae, …) are often hailed as ideal laboratories to study matter at high temperatures and nuclear densities. But, as with any experiment, what we can learn about the physics of extreme matter depends both on the quality of the experiment: how well we can constrain the initial conditions and how well we can tie the observed diagnostics back to the physics we wish to study. I will review the wealth of diagnostics astronomers gather in astrophysical transients and discuss how these are used to improve our understanding of extreme states of matter

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Testing Galaxy Formation with Clustering Statistics and ΛCDM Halo Models at z=0-1 Wed. September 10th, 2014
11:00 am-1:00 pm

Testing Galaxy Formation with Clustering Statistics and ΛCDM Halo Models at z=0-1

Ramin Skibba, UC San Diego

Galaxies form and evolve in particular environments of the cosmic web, which consists of a variety of filaments and knots, as well as voids and underdense regions. The influence of a galaxy’s environment on its evolution has been studied and compared extensively in the literature, although differing techniques are often used to define ‘environment.’ I will begin by assessing measures of environmental correlations using mock galaxy catalogs. I will introduce a new method for quantifying environmental correlations,

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