Media
Cosmic Videos
Astronomy Talk: Using Shadows to Shed New Light – James L. Green
Current estimates are that over 150 million Americans viewed the Great American Solar Eclipse on August 21, 2017 with another 60 million viewing it electronically from TV or the internet. It’s amazing to think that we are still using this opportunity to do new and exciting science even though eclipses are a regular occurrence. Eclipses […]
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Astronomy Talk: The Golden Age of Space Exploration – Charles Elachi
Over the last 50 years, JPL spacecraft have visited every planet in our solar system and roved for more than 14 years on the surface of Mars. In addition, spaceborne telescopes have detected planets around neighboring systems, studied the composition and dynamic of galaxies across the Universe, and monitored changes in our planet’s surface and […]
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Evenings with Astronomers: Research Using the Keck Telescopes – Greg Doppmann and Anna Ciurlo
Dr. Greg Doppmann, Keck Observatory Resident Astronomer, will share his research: Characterizing the Planet Forming Region around Young Stars Using Keck Observatory’s NIRSPEC Instrument. Dr. Anna Ciurlo, post-doctoral student with the UCLA Galactic Center Group and Keck Visiting Scholar, will present: Exploring the Center of Our Galaxy: Gas & Clouds Around the Supermassive Black Hole.
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Astronomy Talk: Journey Through the Universe – Brian Day
Brian Day will give a demonstration of the lunar and planetary mapping and modeling portals his team developed at NASA. He will take the audience on a tour of potential landing sites that NASA is considering for future missions to the Moon and Mars. He will also examine how the giant asteroid Vesta was almost […]
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Astronomy Talk: The Science Behind Interstellar – Kip Thorne, 2017 Nobel Physics Prize Laureate
How scientifically accurate is the blockbuster film Interstellar? Dr. Kip Thorne will take you behind the scenes of the movie and explain how he helped Hollywood turn science fact into science fiction. Dr. Thorne is a world-renowned theoretical astrophysicist. He is one of three scientists who recently won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for […]
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Astronomy Talk: Black Holes Last Tango in Space – David Reitze
The first direct detections of gravitational waves in late 2015 were made possible by a dedicated forty year quest to design, build, and operate LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory. Why so long?? Dr. Reitze will discuss what makes gravitational waves so difficult to detect and at the same time such powerful and unique probes […]
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Astronomy Talk: Habitability of Our Universe – Avi Loeb
Is life most likely to emerge at the present cosmic time near a star like the Sun? Dr. Loeb will review the habitability of the Universe throughout cosmic history from the birth of the first stars 30 million years after the Big Bang to the death of the last stars in the ten trillion years. […]
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Astronomy Talk: The Restless Universe – Shri Kulkarni
Cosmic explosions were first noted nearly 2,000 years ago but only in the past 100 years have astronomers secured recognition of classes of explosions ranging from exotic eruptions to the death of stars (supernovae). The Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) and its successor, the Zwicky Transient Factory (ZTF) are high-tech projects squarely aimed to chart the […]
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Astronomy Talk: Fingerprints of the First Stars
Our current story for the origin of the heavy elements has at its core a recycling program on the grandest of scales. Using Keck, we have traced atoms as they flow from the intergalactic medium into galaxies, where they are incorporated into stars, undergo fusion, and are returned in supernovae and other types of stellar […]
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Astronomy Talk: Gravitational Lensing
Observing distant objects allows us to peer back in time to early stages of the universe, across the most active period of galaxy growth when most stars were born. While galaxies are challenging to study at such large distances, nature occasionally gives us an advantage through the phenomenon of gravitational lensing. Tucker Jones is discussing […]
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