We live on a rocky planet that orbits a luminous star, the Sun. In addition to the Earth and the Sun, what else is out there? What other planets, stars, and galaxies populate space? And how did all this come to be? What is the origin of planets and stars? Can we explain the birth of the Universe itself?
People have pondered these matters as long as they have looked up at the night sky. But today's astronomers are going far beyond idle speculation. Using powerful telescopes, they can see stars destroying themselves in titanic explosions. These events are so distant that the light we now detect left the dying star long before the Earth was born. Much closer to home, they see new stars being formed out of dusty gas clouds. They even see planets like those in our Solar System orbiting alien stars.
Thus, the census of the Universe continues, and indeed accelerates. At the same time, theorists are hard at work explaining, through the laws of physics, what the telescopes find. They understand why distant galaxies appear to race away from us, and how the galaxies themselves were created. They have learned how a gas cloud collapses on itself to form not only a star, but also a disk that orbits that star. And they are beginning to see how that disk congeals into planets.
Astronomy asks the biggest questions of all. Those who practice it are finding answers, as well. Below, you can find stories about some of the work done by Cal astronomers.
On February 18, our talk will be given by Prof. Buford Price, and will be entitled "Single-celled Microbes in Polar Ice: A Proxy for Evolution over 100 Million Generations".
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS TALK TAKES PLACE IN STANLEY HALL, ROOM 105. THIS IS NOT OUR USUAL VENUE.
Although glacial ice is the purest naturally occurring solid on Earth, it does contain dust particles and micron-size bacterial cells transported by winds from desert soils and oceans. Glacial ice contains a network of liquid veins within which microbes live, metabolize, and die, but do not grow. Using scanning fluorescence spectrometry, fluorescence microscopy, and flow cytometry, we have mapped the distribution and concentration of picocyanobacteria – cells less than 1 micron in size that contain chlorophyll and other naturally fluorescing pigments. They account for half of the photosynthetic biomass in the oceans, half of the primary production, and half of the oxygen in our atmosphere. Theire presence in ice at all depths in both Greenland and Antarctica provides an opportunity to study microbial evolution over about 100 million generations, using recent improvements in sensitivity to analyze the DNA of the cyanobacteria that are trapped in the ice.
Cal physicists study the most fundamental questions in science. Read on to learn about these scientists' research!
On December 17, our talk was given by Prof. Bernard Sadoulet, and was entitled "Shedding Light on the Dark Side of the Universe".
The last decade of cosmological observations tells us that 95% of the energy density in the universe is dark: the combination of about 25% of dark matter, whose nature is unknown and 70% of an even more mysterious dark energy. Ordinary matter only represents 5% of the energy budget. I will review attempts to shed light on this dark side of the universe, in particular current attempts to detect Weakly Interactive Massive Particles, which could make the dark matter.
On November 19, our talk was given by Dr. Genevieve Graves, and was entitled "From Gas into Galaxies: Just Add Gravity!".
Galaxies, like our own Milky Way, are not eternal or changeless. They are born in the early universe out of massive clouds of gas. In their early years, they experience rapid growth, forming lots of new stars out of the matter that streams in to feed them. As teenagers, they collide with other galaxies, setting off massive new bursts of star formation and growing large black holes at their centers. From there, they settle down into a sustainable mode, forming stars reliably (to pay the mortgage!) and only occasionally having a run-in with another galaxy. Finally, in their old age, they retire from the star-formation business and relax, coasting out the rest of time with their dwindling supply of stars. This talk will trace the life-cycle of galaxies, large and small, from the early universe to the present. Come learn about the origins and the ultimate fate of this "island universe" we call the Milky Way!
(Posted on behalf of the Bay Area Science Festival.)
As part of the Bay Area Science Festival (Oct. 29 - Nov. 6), the Bay Area Science Festival is throwing a regional "star party" at over 20 different sites on Nov. 5. Colleges, schools, observatories and science centers around the Bay Area will be open, and both professional and amateur astronomers will be on hand to offer telescope viewing and observing tips. If the sky is cloudy, many sites will still offer indoor astronomy activities. Some institutions will also have astronomy talks and events that evening, regardless of the weather. The sites are listed below. Please invite friends, colleagues, students, neighbors, and even your in-laws to join us for a stellar evening.
The discovery of extrasolar planetary systems has overturned entrenched ideas about how our own planetary system formed. Around other stars we find exotic planets like nothing we see around our Sun: hot Jupiters, super-Earths, and massive planets at Kuiper Belt distances and beyond. Where do they come from, and can we devise a story of planet formation that can account for the wide diversity of systems we see around our own star and others? This talk will introduce you to some of the ways we learn about planet formation, starting with evidence from observations with the naked eye and small telescopes and proceeding to the latest in high-resolution optical, infrared, and radio telescope observations of the disks of gas and dust around young stars. We will explore the main theories and open questions about how planets form in circumstellar disks, and attempt to place our solar system in context: are we normal?
(This event is now over.) Learn about Ceres and C-type asteroids at the East Bay Science Cafe’s discussion on asteroid discoveries by high school and college students at Cafe Valparaiso in Berkeley on Wednesday, August 3.
Join guest speaker Dr. J. Patrick Miller, who is the director of the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC) to learn more about the strides made by amateur star-gazers and professionals alike at this forum organized by the University of California Berkeley Natural History Museums and Science@Cal.
On February 19, our talk was given by Prof. Alex Filippenko, and was entitled "Hearts of Darkness: Black Holes in Space".
Black holes are regions of space where gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape! No longer confined to the imaginations of science-fiction writers and theoretical physicists, black holes have recently been discovered in large numbers by observational astronomers. Learn about the remarkable properties of these bizarre objects from one of the finest explainers in the field of astronomy.
Alex Filippenko is one of the world's most highly cited astronomers, and the recipient of numerous prizes for his research. He was a member of both teams that discovered the accelerating expansion of the Universe; this was named the "Top Science Breakthrough of 1998" by Science magazine, and the teams received the 2007 Gruber Cosmology Prize for their discovery. Prof. Filippenko has won the highest teaching awards at UC Berkeley, where the student body has voted him the "Best Professor" on campus six times, and he was selected as the 2006 Carnegie/CASE National Professor of the Year among doctoral institutions.
On January 15, our talk was given by Dr. Bryan Mendez, and was entitled "WISE Astronomy: The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer".
NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) has mapped the sky in infrared light, searching for asteroids, the nearest and coolest stars, the origins of stellar and planetary systems, and the most luminous galaxies in the Universe. WISE is an unmanned satellite carrying an infrared-sensitive telescope that images the entire sky, providing a vast storehouse of knowledge about the Solar System, the Milky Way, and the Universe. During this lecture, I will describe the mission, its history, current status, and some of the discoveries it has already made.
Bryan hails from Traverse City, Michigan where the dark sky enthralled him from a very early age and inspired him to study astronomy. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1997 with degrees in Astronomy, Physics, and Music. Bryan continued his education at the University of California at Berkeley, where he researched the large scale flow of galaxies in the nearby Universe by measuring their distances. He received a Ph.D. in Astrophysics from UC Berkeley in 2002. Bryan now works at the Center for Science Education at UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory to educate and inspire others about the wonder and beauty of the Universe. His work in space science education and public outreach involves developing programs for the public through the web and museums, developing classroom materials for students in K-12 classrooms, and conducting professional development for science educators.
The latest issue of the online magazine ScienceMatters@Berkeley
has been published! It contains articles about the work done by Cal
scientists to study the magnetic fields of planets, minimize damage
after brain injuries, and learn how common solar systems like our own
are. Check out the latest issue here.
Combine an evening out with fascinating scientific discussions! Learn more here. Held the first Wednesday of every month.
Please consider supporting Science@Cal with a tax-deductible donation! More information here.
Check out upcoming science events at Cal at our event calendar!
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