Stars & Galaxies - Public Lecture + Viewing Night

[silvinator]

Hi everyone,

The Spanish Embassy is hosting an event at Mt Stromlo next Friday as part of the celebrations for IYA2009. The event poster can be downloaded from:
http://www.atnf.csiro.au/people/lop009/divulgacion/cartel_ATCA_NGC1512+observacion_med .jpg

and the event details are also posted in the Australian website of the IYA09:
http://iya.aao.gov.au/astronomy2009/index.php?option=com_jcalpro&Itemid=33&extmode=view&extid=448

Below is the non-fancy version of the details, including the talk abstract. I hope that some of you can make it.

Cheers,
Silvie

*********************************** *********************************** *********************************** *******************
When: Friday 24th April, 5:15pm
Where: Duffield Lecture Theatre, Mt Stromlo, ACT
What: Public lecture about star formation in galaxies from a multiwavelength point of view (combining beautiful images in optical / UV / IR / radio). After the talk, and with the help of the "Canberra Astronomical Society" (and one telescope from the BHS), they're hosting an amateur observation.
Guest Speaker: Dr. Angel R. Lopez-Sanchez (CSIRO/ATNF)

The tittle and abstract of the talk are:

"Stars and Galaxies"
A multi-color vision of how stars are born and die in the galaxies of the Local Universe

Stars are born in giant nebulae composed by gas and dust. The evolution
of a single star depends on its initial mass and chemical composition.
Stars like the Sun live for a long time: they are shinning for several
billions of years. Low mass stars end their lives expelling their outer
atmospheres to the space: a planetary nebula is formed. However, massive
stars evolve quickly, dying some few million of years after their birth
in a titanic supernova explosion. In both cases, new and fresh material
cooked inside the stars is released to the space and contribute to the
birth of the new generation of stars. Indeed, this cycle of stellar
evolution has a fundamental role in all the galaxies, their observed
properties and their evolution. In order to understand all the
processes, astrophysicists have to look not only in the visible colors
but in all frequencies, from X-ray to radio-waves, to get an accurate
picture of the nebulae, the galaxies and our position in the Universe.

This event is free. Everyone is welcome to attend.
*********************************** *********************************** *********************************** *******************

[nightsky]

G'Day Silvie,
Such a pity it's to far to travel :( should be a good night. :thumbsup: to the Spanish Embassy.
Cheers
Arthur

[silvinator]

Hey Arthur, sorry you can't make it. I hope they record this so that others can listen to it and in case I can't make it myself (but I must go, I'm bringing the club's scope! :D ). I was very surprised to find out that the Spanish Embassy is organising this one and I would never have heard about it if it wasn't for the guest speaker herself contacting me for help with advertising this. So to those who were thinking of coming along and can make it to Canberra, please do come along! The speaker really wants a big audience :)

[bloodhound31]

I got the poster 2 hours before the event. I knocked off work, went home and did the dishes, then shot up the hill to go watch.

It was a good turnout, but unfortunately the weather was miserable so there was no observing afterwards.

The lecture was quite good and the screen visualisations were well presented and easily followed.

Dr Angel R. Lopez-Sanchez has a very thick accent and this was his first public presentation, but he did an excellent job of it anyway.

The usual questions about stars and black holes were asked at the end, but one question raised I particularly liked, was this...."What is dust?"

For many of us and those we speak to, when we say the nebulae are made of gas and dust, most of us just accept that dust is dust. Now think about what "dust" really is, here and in space, how big it is, what it is made of and how it came to be in existence is a very interesting thought path and could be an entire lecture in itself.

A most enjoyable night. Thank you Dr Angelo, CSIRO and Spanish Embassy and ANU.

Baz.

[nightsky]

G'Day Baz,
Thanks for your report of the night :) pity about the weather :( Glad you
did the dishes before you left :P
Cheers
Arthur

[silvinator]

Hey Barry, glad to hear you made it to the talk and thanks for writing up the report :) Much appreciated. I'll just add that it was indeed a very good turnout (over 100 people I believe, as the theatre can seat 100 people and there were many standing up or sitting in the aisles) and there were more kids there than I expected, which is a great sign. It's hard to convince little ones to sit still for an hour but sit still they did (and most were quiet...)

The talk consisted of many pretty pictures and the speaker used those images, made in all different wavelengths (i.e. radio, near infrared, mid-infrared, optical, ultraviolet and x-ray) to highlight how astronomers can use such images to discover many things about the structure of stars, galaxies and nebulae. For example, radio waves can show the existence of more extensive structure between what seem to be non-interacting galaxies optically, and which may also show up in x-ray. Infrared images can tell us where the dust and ultimately, where star forming regions are (because you can peer through the dust to see the young stars). Higher energy wavelengths (x-rays etc) tell astronomers where the action is - that is, the sites of black holes, galaxy mergers and supermassive jets. The different wavelengths also tell us about the structure of different types of galaxies - where the old and young stars are, where the massive stars are, which in turn, give astronomers clues to galaxy evolution.

I particularly liked the 3D animation of the fly-out from the Milky Way (starting in front of Orion), then flying through Andromeda and heading out toward the local group, finally reaching the hubble deep field image. He also showed a successive series of zoomed images starting from the Large Magellenic Cloud, going in near the tarantula nebula, then zooming in further until he reached about 1pc (I think that's what the final field of view size was...I can't remember!). Anyway, the animation was very good but the explanation of what was happening could have been more explicit, especially for the little ones in the audience.

I'd say the talk was aimed at high-school/first year introductory astronomy level. There was not much physics involved at all and I think the images and 3D animations really helped to gain people's interest in astronomy. Overall, I enjoyed the talk and it was really a shame about the weather not cooperating.