Winter 2009

02/07/2009 | Four-Hundred Years of Cosmic Discovery: Celebrating the International Year of Astronomy -- Timothy McKay (U-M 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.

02/14/2009 | How Did Earth Get Its Water? -- Ted Bergin (U-M 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.  

03/07/2009 | Building Planets: When and How? -- Nuria Calvet (U-M 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.

03/14/2009 | Amateur Astronomy: From Ann Arbor to the Universe -- University Lowbrow Astronomers

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.  

03/21/2009 | Supermassive Black Holes and the Evolution of Galaxies -- Doug Richstone (U-M 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.  

03/28/2009 | Black Holes Along the Cosmic Time -- Marta Volonteri (U-M 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.

04/04/2009 | Milky Way Galaxy: Keeper of the Darkest Secrets of the Universe -- Oleg Gnedin (U-M 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.