Free Astronomy Public Lectures: Recent Episodes
Swinburne University of Technology
Each month, from February to November, the Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing presents a free public lecture at the Hawthorn campus of Swinburne University of Technology.
This is a special State of the Universe lecture for National Science Week in August 2022. Presented by the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing (CAS) at Swinburne University of Technology. Successfully launched on 25 December 2021, NASA’s successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has taken its first images and will be released to the public 12 July. Join Professor Karl Glazebrook, Dr Themiya Nanayakkara and Dr Colin Jacobs, as they discuss these images and the potential secrets of the universe they reveal. Dr Nicha Leethochawalit from University of Melbourne will share her work on redshifted galaxies (z=10). Presented 19 August 2022.
In astronomy, we use cutting edge instruments and techniques to learn more about our Universe. But what about turning that focus back to Earth? More and more of our daily activities depend on space and it provides a unique perspective of our planet. In this talk, Dr Rebecca Allen (Swinburne University of Technology) will discuss Australia's growing role in the global space industry and how we are using our astronomy knowledge to drive cutting-edge research for Earth. Presented 30 September 2022.
Behind the serenity of the night sky, hides an ever-changing Universe of brilliant explosions. Join us online for an interactive lecture uncovering the State of the Transient Universe with Dr Jielai Zhang as part of National Science Week 2020.
Most of our understanding of stars and how they evolve is based on the assumption that they are completely isolated in space, never interacting with one another. However, studies over the last decade have shown that many more stars than we thought exist in gravitationally-bound binaries, triples, and even larger groupings. The addition of companions increases the complexity in the systems, but also opens up the possibility for interactions between the stars and the formation of unusual astronomical objects. I will discuss the current state of the field, and some of the challenging open questions that continue to puzzle scientists. Presented 22 April 2022.
Einstein dreamt of a Universe in which space and time were curved by matter, and how black holes would represent the ultimate manifestations of his physics, and the possibility of a new type of radiation - gravitational waves. Sadly he died before the discovery of black holes and neutron stars, and so he was unable to witness many of the dramatic experimental confirmations of his theory.
In this lecture the Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav), Professor Matthew Bailes will use Mixed Reality Technologies to demonstrate how scientists have used telescopes and gravitational wave detectors to explore Einstein's universe, and provide astonishing confirmations of his theories using observations of neutron stars and black holes. Presented 19 October 2021.
Presented by Sara Webb and Grace Lawrence on Friday 28 February 2020. When we look to the stars, what we see is a fraction of the universe – only around 5%. Astronomers observe that a mysterious ‘dark universe’ of strange and enigmatic dark energy and dark matter makes up the remaining 95%. Swinburne PhD candidates Sara Webb and Grace Lawrence are working to unravel the mysteries of this dark universe, exploring the fundamental origins and nature of dark energy and dark matter.
Presented by Professor Sheila Kannappan on Monday 16 December 2019. Since ancient times, humans have been drawn to understand the heavens while at the same time observing them with a spiritual sense of wonder. In this talk Professor Kannappan will trace the dual power of truth and awe in the history of astronomy and in our modern world.
Presented by Dr Tiantian Yuan on 29th November 2019. Scientific research is not only fun but also funny. In this end of the year talk, Tiantian Yuan explains how the universe makes us laugh and think.
Presented by Dr Edward (Ned) Taylor on Friday 18 October 2019.
At its most basic, astronomy is an attempt to understand the nature of the universe in which we find ourselves. As such, understandings of astronomy have always had a profound impact on how we conceive of and understand ourselves — as a society, if not as individuals. In this talk, I want to share my 'cosmic perspective’: some of the lessons from modern astronomy and astrophysics that I carry with me into my daily life, and how my understanding of the universe shapes how I see the world. I also want to reflect especially on this extraordinary moment in the history of humanity, of our planet, and indeed our universe, and how our visions for our future might be enhanced with a more cosmic perspective.
Presented by Renee Spiewak on Friday 20 September 2019. Like humans, stars often live their long lives in pairs, called binaries. At the end of their lives, they experience drastic transformations, rather than simply ending, and these transformations greatly affect their companions. In this lecture, I will take you on a journey of the many lives (and spectacular deaths/rebirths) of a massive star with a lighter companion star. The mass of a star, among other factors, determines the path it takes and the changes it experiences, and stars in binaries affect each other greatly. In a quiet stellar neighbourhood, this massive star will peacefully spend millions of years with its companion before undergoing a sudden transformation into one of the most extreme objects in the universe. Billions of years later, a second transformation will occur when the star’s companion quietly reaches the end of its life. However, under the right conditions, the pair’s story will not end there.
Presented by Kim Ellis on Friday, 19 July 2019. This will be an informative lecture on how Australia is making a splash on the international space arena as the Australian Space Agency turns one. We will also be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the moon landing.
Presented by Poojan Agrawal on the 21st June 2019. Beyond the twinkling dots in the night sky, there are all sorts of stars that are beautiful and fascinating their own sense. I will share the story of how we came to understand these stars as we know them today using the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram and the importance of the lives of these stars in the present-day astrophysical problems.
Presented by Prof. Andreas Burkert on 29th March 2019. The Galactic Center is one of the most fascinating and extreme places in the Milky Way. Harboring a supermassive black hole with a mass of order four million solar masses, it experiences cycles of activity and star formation, separated by periods of quiescence that last of order a million years. The Milky Way’s supermassive black hole currently is inactive. However a small, diffuse gas cloud (G2) has recently been detected on an orbit almost straight into the Galactic Supermassive Black Hole. Like comet Shoemaker Levy’s 1994 collision with Jupiter, the big challenge has started for astrophysicists to predict the outcome of G2’s close encounter with the supermassive black hole. Their models will be validated directly by observations within the next decade.
Presented by Dr Daniel C Price on 22nd February 2019. Thanks to new, more powerful technology, astronomers can search the skies faster and with more resolution than ever before. In this public lecture, I will talk about two exciting fields in astronomy: the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), and Fast Radio Bursts. The SETI field has been reinvigorated by the 10-year, $100M Breakthrough Listen initiative to search for intelligent life beyond Earth. As a project scientist for Breakthrough Listen, I will introduce the program and detail how we are using new technology to run the most comprehensive search for intelligent life beyond Earth ever undertaken. I will also discuss a mysterious phenomenon known as fast radio bursts: incredibly bright but short-lived signals from distant galaxies, which escaped detection until recently. Could these signals be due to intelligent aliens, or is there an astrophysical explanation? I will give an overview of how a telescope upgrade will help us answer this question, and how Swinburne astronomers will play a leading role. Finally, I will discuss what evidence would convince us that there is indeed life beyond Earth, or that the Universe is ours alone to enjoy.
Presented by Assoc. Prof. Tara Murphy on 23 November 2018. On August 17th 2017 the LIGO-Virgo interferometer detected gravitational waves from a neutron star merger in a galaxy 130 million light years away. This was a breakthrough for physics and astronomy. What followed was a frenzy of activity as astronomers around the world worked to detect electromagnetic radiation with conventional telescopes. After this unprecedented effort the event was detected in gamma-rays, x-rays, visible light and radio waves. I will discuss this incredible scientific result and its implications, including: predictions made by Einstein; the production of gold and other heavy elements; and our understanding of black hole formation. I will also give a 'behind the scenes' perspective of how it happened, and discuss the changes in the way we do science in this era of big astronomy.
Presented by Dr Duane Hamacher and Krystal De Napoli on 1st June 2018. The subject of Indigenous astronomy has skyrocketed in recent years all around the globe. A constant stream of emerging research is changing what we think we know about Aboriginal knowledge systems in Australia and the number of Aboriginal students studying astrophysics is rapidly growing. This lecture will introduce you to one of these students, Kamilaroi woman and astrophysics student Krystal De Napoli, and the research she and Dr Duane Hamacher are conducting with other Aboriginal researchers on topics ranging from Moon haloes, Sun Dogs, and supernovae to the antiquity of deep time oral traditions based on astronomical and geological evidence - even the official naming of Aboriginal stars by the IAU. This talk will explore the many ways in which Indigenous Australians encoded scientific information in their knowledge systems and some of the ways in which they pass this knowledge to successive generations.
Presented on 19 October 2018 by Dr Michelle Cluver.
The more we learn about the universe, the mosre it tends to surprise us. This is one of the most exciting aspects of science - making unexpected discoveries! In this talk I will present some recent scientific discoveries I have been involved with and discuss why these and other discoveries have us so excited about the Square Kilometre Array Pathfinders, MeerKAT and ASKAP.
Presented by Assoc. Prof. Jeff Cooke on 11 May 2018.
When you look up a the night sky, it appears static and unchanging. However, a closer look using telescopes finds it to be wildly violent. Objects explode, erupt and burst on all time scales, from millions of years to months to milliseconds. Many of these events have been studies in great detail but the fastest have been the most difficult to catch largely because of the technological limitations. This presentation will discuss these fast bursts and our program to catch them.
Presented by Prof. Mike Hudson on 16th March 2018. Most of the matter in the Universe is dark matter: an elusive particle that is completely invisible. But we can “see” this matter by studying how it distorts the light from galaxies in the distant Universe, a phenomenon called gravitational lensing. I will give a whirlwind tour of gravitational lensing’s “greatest hits” showing how it can be used as a tool to understand some of the most mysterious things in the Universe: from black holes to the “cosmic web” of dark matter that links galaxies together.
Presented by Dr Emily Petroff on 9 February 2018.
Most things in the universe happen over millions or even billions of years but some things change on the timescales of human life and can be seen to change in a matter of months, days, or even seconds. These sources are called transients and are some of the most extreme events in the Universe, things like the collapse of a dying star, or a collision of two massive objects. Humans have been observing astronomical transients for centuries, from supernovae to gamma ray bursts and, most recently, gravitational waves, but recent advances in telescope power and technology mean we’re observing more and more transients each year and even finding new types. In 2007 we discovered a brand new type of transient called fast radio bursts (FRBs), bright radio pulses that last only a few milliseconds. Their origin is one of the newest unsolved mysteries of astronomy but it is clear they are produced in tremendously energetic processes, possibly even billions of light years away. I will tell the story of their discovery, some of our most exciting new breakthroughs, and how new telescopes in Australia and around the world are poised to answer some of the big questions about FRBs in the next few years.
Presented by Dr Thomas E. Collett on Tuesday 14 November 2017.
Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts that light rays are bent when they travel past a massive object. In this talk, we will explore tests of this prediction and view some of the spectacular consequences of light bending: gravitational lenses. These gravitational lenses let us directly measure where the mass is in the Universe, and the results imply that the Universe is mostly made of an exotic substance called dark matter.
Presented by Dr Tiantian Yuan on Friday 29 September 2017.
One of the most prominent features of galaxies today is the manifestation of elegant spiral arms. We live in a beautiful grand-design spiral galaxy called the Milky Way. Our Solar System, including the Earth and the only life that we know, lies within the Orion spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy. However, as we look back in time to the very early Universe, the frequency of spiral galaxies decreases dramatically. In fact, most galaxies in the distant past are messy and irregular in shape. Why is it so? When was the first appearance of spiral arms? How were they formed? In this talk, I will take us 11 billion years back in time through the distorted space surrounding nature's most massive structures. We will get a glimpse of earliest onset of spiral arms and directly witness the formation of a spiral galaxy that could later be home to billions of stars and planets like our earth.
Presented by Igor Andreoni on Friday 20 October 2017.
The ancients considered the Universe unchanging, and had a special name for the planets, which they regarded as “wanderers”. Any changes in the night sky were seen as portents of doom – and a reason to fear the Gods. The advent of modern astronomy means that we no longer fear changes in the night sky, indeed some of us make our living from them! In this lecture I will tell you the story of the modern transient sky, where stars live and die in spectacular explosions and amazing instruments such as the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave interferometers probe the darkest depths of the Universe. The discovery of gravitational waves was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics this month and has the power to reveal a plethora of new science from the merger of black holes and other exotic stars.
Presented by Prof. Patricia Vickers-Rich on Friday 7 July 2017.
We have been plotting the history of life around the world and climate over more than 1 billion years. Tonight we will zero in on a time when the Earth's first animals came into the picture - at a time when the planet was in the grips of a massive glaciation, Snowball Earth - which is likely better named Slushball Earth.
Presented by Dr Rebecca Allen on Friday 12 May 2017. Galaxies are the largest structures of matter in our Universe. Our own Milky Way has been studied in glorious detail. We know it has billions of stars, around most of which planets are likely to be found. There is a super massive black hole at its center where anything that gets too close will be consumed. There are intricate dust lanes that obscure the main disk of the galaxy. There is the life-force of stars, hydrogen gas. Finally, there is the mysterious dark matter that acts as a gravitational glue holding the ordinary matter together. But our galaxy is just one of many, and since their discovery, understanding how these complex objects form and evolve has been a focus of astronomers. There are many pathways to reveal more about the nature and evolution of galaxies. In this talk, Dr Rebecca Allen from the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, will share how she uses the sizes of galaxies to understand more about their growth.
Presented by Dr. Themiya Nanayakkara on 21st April 2017.
Over the last century, our understanding of the Universe has grown by leaps and bounds whilst posing new questions and testing our very fundamental knowledge and understanding of things around us. To answer these profound questions, scientists are planning ever more ambitious projects driven by human curiosity, to explore the unknown and comprehend our place in the vast senseless space. The Australian federal government in 2016-17 provided AUD 10 billion in support of science research and experiment development while NASA and ESA combined, plans to invest USD 25+ billion in 2017. Why is it important for governments to spend substantial amounts of money in fundamental science research? What are the benefits for the average tax payer, from governments investing billions of dollars into space science? How has our everyday lives been influenced by such investments? Together we shall discuss and explore how our investments in science has improved our way of living, and what the future may hold in store for us.
Presented by Assoc. Prof. Emma Ryan-Weber on 10 February 2017.
The whole Universe was in a hot dense state, then nearly 14 billion years ago expansion started. Wait... is the Bang Bang true and how do we know? In this talk Associate Professor Emma Ryan-Weber from the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing will describe the observational evidence for Big Bang Cosmology and how it sets the initial conditions for every atom in the Universe. The talk is especially suitable for year 11 teachers and students studying VCE Physics Unit 1, area of study 3 "What is matter and how is it formed".
Presented by Dr. Tyler Bourke on 24th March 2017.
Australia is part of an international effort to build the World's largest radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). In fact, one of the two telescope arrays that make up the SKA will be built in the Western Australian outback near Murchison, about 800 km NNE of Perth, a remote area almost devoid of people, but already the location of two advanced radio telescopes. The other SKA telescope array will be in a similarly isolated location in South Africa. The telescopes of the SKA will provide more than an order-of-magnitude increase in performance over existing radio telescopes, to for example: address fundamental questions on the history of our Universe and the emergence of the first stars and galaxies ; detect the merger of super-massive black-holes at the centres of galaxies through their gravitational waves, and use these events to test Einstein's theories ; detect powerful bursts of radio emission whose origin and nature remain controversial.
On September 14, 2015, gravitational waves from the merger of two black holes rippled through the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). The measurement of these ripples would ultimately lead to the first direct detection of gravitational waves, the first observation of a binary black hole, and the birth of an entirely new field of astronomy. In this talk, Dr Eric Thrane from Monash University, will trace the history of gravitational waves from Einstein to the LIGO detection. Dr Thrane will describe how LIGO works and how we are using it to learn about black holes and other interesting objects. He'll also discuss the future of gravitational-wave astronomy in Australia and around the world. Presented on 16 December 2016.
Presented by Prof. Darren Croton on 21 October 2016.
Black holes are among the most bizarre objects predicted by Einstein's theory of General Relativity. Many people may not realise that our own galaxy hosts a supermassive black hole at its centre that is three million times more massive than our own Sun! In this talk Professor Darren Croton from the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing will discuss the physics of black holes and their formation, how they can grow to become so massive, active black hole "quasars" in the distant universe, and the unexpected impact that a supermassive black hole can have on the evolution of an entire galaxy. Professor Croton will finish by side stepping into the exotic world of wormholes, the black hole's tormented cousin
Presented by Prof. Matthew Bailes on 30 September 2016. Almost 50 years ago Jocelyn Bell built a new telescope with her supervisor Antony Hewish that had an unusual property: it had high time resolution. The radio sky was thought to only change on long timescales but this new telescope's ability to explore a different regime of phase space meant that it made one of the greatest discoveries in astronomy, that of pulsars. Pulsars are neutron stars, the collapsed cores of once-massive stars. They have been used to perform some of the most accurate experiments in physics, and were the motivation for the construction of the LIGO telescope that recently discovered gravitational waves. In this talk Professor Matthew Bailes will explain how whilst trying to find new pulsars astronomers stumbled across a brand new phenomenon, the Fast Radio Bursts. These millisecond-duration radio flashes appear to be coming from half way across the Universe but nobody knows what they are.
Presented by on 22 July 2016 by Rebecca Allen.
In the vast cold reaches of space life has been able to gain a foothold and flourish on at least one planet- ours. We know that water is critical to life, but we do not know how Earth got it. In this talk, we will first explore the ongoing search for the source of Earth's water. Next, we will talk about some of the exciting ways in which we are utilising our knowledge of life on this planet to search for and possibly identify life in other parts of the Universe.
Presented on 17 June 2016 by Allan Duffy.
In the last 50 years astronomers have come to realise that there exists an invisible type of mass in the Universe, outweighing all of the atoms in every star, planet and person five times over. It's responsible for holding the galaxy together, for making the galaxies form where they do in the cosmos and is our best guide to physics beyond the Higgs boson, aka the 'god' particle. Yet astronomers are no nearer to understanding its nature. Using a combination of baby universes created on Australia's most powerful telescopes, next generation telescopes like the Australian SKA Pathfinder, and a wine glass, Alan will explore what we know about the invisible and how Australia may uncover the most sought after particle in physics with the world's first dark matter detector in the Southern Hemisphere, SABRE.
Presented on 20 May 2016 by Amanda Karakas.
Most of the elements in the periodic table heavier than hydrogen and helium were forged in stars. Through the combined studies of stellar spectroscopy, nuclear physics, geochemistry, and astrophysics, humans have been able to work out the origin of many of the chemical elements that naturally occur in our Solar System. We know for example that most of the oxygen in the air was forged in ancient supernova explosions, which are the end product of very massive stars. The carbon in our bodies was synthesized instead by stars covering a wide range of stellar masses, from solar-type stars like our Sun through to massive stars. The biggest mystery today concerns the origins of the elements heavier than iron. In this talk I will take you on a journey through the origin of the elements, with a special focus on where the heaviest elements in nature are formed. in order to do this, I will discuss some basics about the life cycle of stars, which is intimately connected to the story of the origin of the elements through the nuclear reactions that occur deep in their interiors. Presented on 20 May 2016.
Presented on 15 April 2016 by Dr Elisabete da Cunha.
Almost one hundred years ago, astronomer Edwin Hubble revolutionised our understanding of the Universe and our place in it when he discovered that it extends beyond the Milky Way. Since then, astronomers have identified millions of galaxies beyond our own, and developed sophisticated techniques to measure their distances and motions. In this talk, I will show how astronomers map the Universe using large surveys of galaxies, and how "cosmic maps" are an essential tool in Cosmology, allowing us to understand the physical nature and history of the Universe.
Presented on 18 March 2016 by Elodie Thilliez and Matthew Agnew.
The Solar system is a remarkable place filled with wonderfully varied worlds. Travelling outwards from the sun we first encounter the hellish, rocky bodies of Mercury and Venus, continue to the cooler, water bearing world of Earth and our close neighbour Mars. Beyond the asteroid belt we hit the majestic gas giants of Jupiter and Saturn and continuing on our voyage we finally reach the cold ice giants of Uranus and Neptune. The Solar system is our home and our starting point for understanding planetary systems and their architectures. Until the late 20th century these were the only planets known to us, however, in the last two decades, there has been enormous and rapid progress in the discovery and understanding of planets beyond our Solar system, dubbed Exoplanets. As we discover more and more of these exoplanets, and the planetary systems to which they belong, our understanding of planet formation and planetary architectures has changed and raised several questions. Where did these Jupiter-sized, gas giants orbiting their stars in as little as 3 days come from? What is a 'super Earth'? Will we find another habitable world? In this lecture we will answer some of these questions as we explore our very own Solar system, look at how we observe and discover Exoplanets, and examine how these other planetary systems differ to our own.
Presented by Dr Pablo A. Rosado on 18th February 2016.
One of the greatest scientific discoveries of all times was achieved last week: the first detection of gravitational waves, emitted by a black hole binary. This discovery follows decades of intense work, and opens a new window to the Universe. This talk, for scientists and for non-scientists, is about black hole binaries, and the dawn of gravitational wave astronomy. This talk is about the curious romance of Alice and Bob. Nobody has heard it before, but we can speculate about what happened: how they were born, how they grew, how they first met, and how they finally became one forever. The true story is actually written in space-time, has been traveling across the Universe for more than a billion years, and is reaching Earth now. This is the story of two distant black holes merging into one. You may be wondering how we can hear it: is there really a way to listen to the voice of space-time? I will endeavour to answer this question, and explain how we attempt to discover new sounds of the Universe that we have never been able to listen to before. The talk will involve the loudest events in the Universe, like supernovae or collisions of neutron stars and black holes. In other words, I will speak about the dawn of gravitational wave astronomy, and pose that the mysterious love story of Alice and Bob might soon be finally heard, loud and clear.
Presented on 4 December 2015 by Dr Lisa Harvey-Smith.
What is Dark Matter? How did the solar system form? Was Einstein right about the nature of gravity? Are we alone in the universe? To tackle these fascinating questions and more, an international consortium of eleven nations is currently designing the 'Square Kilometre Array' (SKA) telescope. Comprising thousands of radio receivers located in Africa and Australia, the SKA will be the world's most powerful radio telescope. It will revolutionise our understanding of the universe, from the first stars and galaxies formed after the Big Bang to the formation of planet Earth. In preparation for this mega-science project, the CSIRO has built the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope which is due to start early science operations next year. In this talk, CSIRO astronomer Dr. Lisa Harvey-Smith will reveal early results from ASKAP, explain the science and technology behind the telescope and describe many scientific mysteries it will tackle.
Presented by Dr Laura Wolz on Friday 23 October 2015.
Radio telescopes have made numerous appearances in media and films due to their huge, mechanical appearances contrasting with the natural background. The gigantic size of the dishes are essential for observing cosmic objects in high resolution following the basic rule: the longer the wavelength, the bigger the dish. The construction efforts are worthwhile because radio waves can pass our atmosphere nearly unobscured and thus allow us to view the Universe whether it is sunny or cloudy. But what are we looking at? Every galaxy emits a wide range of radio waves, including our own Milky Way, allowing us to measure the positions of the galaxies in space. Radio waves also carry information about the interior of galaxies, namely their hydrogen content. Radio telescopes can be used as cartographers to map the cosmic landscape by their hydrogen emission. This allows us to see areas unobtainable through visible light and take a glimpse how the Universe looked when it was less than half of its age. We can use both, galaxy catalogues and cosmic maps, to explore how the Universe evolved to the present state. We can learn how space floated apart after the Big Bang, how gravity pulls structures together and how dark energy is mysteriously speeding up the expansion of the cosmos
Presented by Associate Professor Kim-Vy Tran on Friday 9 October 2015.
Since Galileo's time, our ability to study the universe has been driven by our ability to collect light from distant objects. Due to tremendous technological advances in the last few decades, we can now study the most distant galaxies known in the universe. In addition to seeing fainter objects at higher resolution, we can also view the universe at many different wavelengths ranging from gamma rays to radio waves. I highlight the major advances that have been made with, e.g. the Keck telescopes and Hubble Space Telescope, and discuss why we need to continue pushing our limits by developing and building new observatories like the Giant Magellan Telescope.
Presented by Prof. Sarah Russell on 11 September 2015.
2015 has been decreed the International Year of Light by the United Nations, and in recognition of this we expand our public astronomy lecture series from telescopes to microscopes. Our immune system protects us from infections and cancer when it works well, and caused autoimmune diseases when it goes wrong. Understanding how immunity is regulated has enabled the development of vaccines, immunosuppressive drugs, and cancer immunotherapies, but gaps in our understanding have prevented development of vaccines to all infectious agents, and mean many autoimmune diseases are still difficult to manage. By linking the expertise in physics at Swinburne with the immunological proficiency at PeterMac, we have developed novel approaches to watching the immune response as it unfolds. These studies are beginning to highlight new paradigms by which immunity is regulated. In this talk, I will describe the challenges and rewards of this interdisciplinary research, and highlight how our work reveals the fascinating mechanisms by which we tread the fine line between too much and too little immunity.
Presented by Prof. Roger Davies on 4 September 2015.
Using exceptional data from Hubble Space Telescope astronomers have discovered supermassive black holes, with masses ranging from millions to billions times the mass of the Sun, at the very centre of massive galaxies. Intriguingly the mass of this central black hole scales with many of the properties of the host galaxy, for example the total mass of the galaxy is about five hundred times the mass of the black hole. However the direct gravitational influence of the black hole extends to only a minute fraction of the volume of the galaxy (about one billionth of the total volume). So, how are these connections established? I will explore this question and reveal an unexpected twist in the story of galaxy evolution.
Celebrate the International Year of Light and National Science Week 2015 with Assoc. Prof. Chris Fluke, as he hosts his fifth annual review of the State of the Universe. This year, the focus is on the visual Universe. No supercomputers. No radiotelescopes. Just good old fashioned astronomy with images. Taken from spacecraft. Which needed radio telescopes to collect the images on Earth. And computers to process them. Presented by Chris Fluke on 14 August 2015.
Presented by Emily Petroff on 19 June 2015.
Most things in the Universe happen over millions or even billions of years but some things change on the timescales of human life and can be seen to change in a matter of months, days, or even seconds. These sources are called transients and are some of the most extreme events in the Universe, things like the collapse of a dying star, or a collision of two massive objects. Humans have been observing astronomical transients for centuries, from supernovae to gamma ray bursts, but recent advances in telescope power and technology mean we're observing more and more transients each year and even finding new types such as the discovery of fast radio bursts in the past decade. This talk will focus on these elusive and ephemeral objects, how they are found, and where they are coming from.
Presented by Prof. Jeremy Mould on 7th May 2015.
The skies of northern Chile are considered the best in the world for astronomy at visible through millimetre wavelengths. Most of the observatories are in the Norte Chico and Atacama regions. Cerro Paranal Observatory is the largest in the world. The Atacama Large Millimeter Array is an international astronomical facility composed of a group of up to 66 radio antennae working together 5000 meters above sea level in the hghlands (Llano de Chajnantor) of the Andes Mountain Range, 50 kms from San Pedro de Atacama. ALMA is the most global astronomical project. Under development is the LSST - Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. The project, which brings together 19 universities and laboratories is under construction on Cerro Pachon and will be able to view, weekly, the entire visible Universe using a digital camera of 3000 million pixels. Cerro Armazones, 3,060 meters in height, situated in the Atacama desert some 130 km south of Antofagasta, Chile, is the site chosen for the largest telescope in the world -known as European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). Las Campanas observatory is operated by Carnegie Institution of Washington, and its location is 2,500 meters above sea level. It will host the Giant Magellan Telescope. Australian astronomers are participating in its construction.
Presented by Prof. Karl Glazebrook on 10th April 2015.
The Universe began in the Big Bang now firmly established at 13.7 billion years ago. But then what? How did the hot expanding hydrogen of the early Universe turn in to the magnificent tapestry of the Universe we see around us? In this lecture I will tell the story of the galaxies, the building blocks of our Universe and how modern observations from large telescopes on the ground and in space have literally let us see how the galaxies have grown up from small wisps to the beautiful structures in which we live today, and revealed their ultimate future.
Presented by James Benford on 13th March 2015.
Messaging to Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (METI) is an issue dividing those who want to announce our presence to the cosmos by broadcasting to the nearer stars and those who advocate international consultations on the societal risk of such transmissions. METI is the opposite of searching (SETI). METI transmissions to date are faint and very unlikely to be detected. If we do send messages, who should speak for us and what should they say? Should individuals and groups capable of announcing Earth civilization to the galaxy talk it over first? Recent development for starship probes to visit the stars will be briefly discussed
Presented by David J. Wilner on 13 February 2015.
Where did the Earth come from? How can we know? How can particles no larger than those in smoke come together to make a planet thousands of kilometers wide? Amazingly, radio telescope observations of material surrounding infant stars are starting to show us signs of planet formation in action. This talk will introduce some of the basic ideas and open questions of planet formation, starting with naked eye observations and proceeding to the latest images from giant radio telescopes, including the new international Atacama Large Millimeter Array of 66 antennas sited at 5000 meters altitude in northern Chile.
Presented by Dr Katherine Mack on 7th December 2014.
Everything humanity has ever seen or experienced represents a tiny speck in a vast and mysterious Universe. What else is out there, and how are we figuring it out? What puzzles still wait to be solved? Come with your questions about dark matter, dark energy, black holes, or the ultimate fate of the Universe as we delve into some of cosmology's most fundamental questions.
Presented by Assoc Prof. Virginia Kilborn on 7th November 2014.
Hydrogen gas is one of the main components in a galaxy like our own Milky Way - but we can't see it when we gaze into the night sky. I will take you on a journey of the unseen parts of our Galaxy - and others like it - using sensitive observations taken with Australia's best radio telescopes. I will explain how astronomers use observations of hydrogen gas to determine the history, and predict the future, of galaxies in the universe.
Presented by Prof. Sheila Rowan on 17th October 2014.
The information carried by these signals will give us new insight into the hearts of some of the most violent events in the Cosmos - from black holes to the beginning of the Universe. A global network of gravitational wave detectors is in now reaching the final stages of construction, with first data expected in 2015. The nature of gravitational waves, how the detectors work and what the data from the detectors can tell us about the Universe we inhabit will be discussed. Recorded on 17 October 2014.
Presented by Dr Pamela Gay on 7th October 2014.
Scientific literacy is required if we want our global society to succeed, but for a variety of reasons, science isn't a passion for most people, and most of the people in science are stereotypical white men. This is particularly true in the field of astronomy. In order to build a future that is more inclusive, we need to celebrate the successes of diverse researchers, and we need to use many different pathways to bring people to astronomy. In this talk, Dr. Pamela L. Gay will talk about the heroes of astronomy who inspired her, and how modern women in science are discovering our universe. She will also discuss how scientists and educators are working to inspire popular engagement in science through communications, citizen science, and helping people live more scientifically every day. Learn how inspiration can be used to potentially leverage the entire world to aid in science.
Scientific literacy is required if we want our global society to succeed, but for a variety of reasons, science isn't a passion for most people, and most of the people in science are stereotypical white men. This is particularly true in the field of astronomy. In order to build a future that is more inclusive, we need to celebrate the successes of diverse researchers, and we need to use many different pathways to bring people to astronomy. In this talk, Dr. Pamela L. Gay will talk about the heroes of astronomy who inspired her, and how modern women in science are discovering our universe. She will also discuss how scientists and educators are working to inspire popular engagement in science through communications, citizen science, and helping people live more scientifically every day. Learn how inspiration can be used to potentially leverage the entire world to aid in science.
Presented by Associate Professor Darren Croton on 19th September 2014.
Black holes are amongst the most bizarre objects predicted by Einstein's theory of General Relativity. Many people may not realise that our own galaxy hosts a supermassive black hole at its centre that is three million times more massive than our own Sun! In this talk Associate Professor Darren Croton discusses the physics of black holes and their formation, how they can grow to become so massive, active black hole 'quasars' in the distant universe and the unexpected impact that a supermassive black hole can have on the evolution of an entire galaxy. We will finish by side stepping into the exotic world of wormholes, the black hole's tormented cousin.
Presented by Dr Jeff Cooke, Mark Durre and Associate Professor Michael Murphy on 18th July 2014.
Swinburne University of Technology astronomers will share their stories of discovery using twin 10-metre telescopes at the W M Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii at a free public lecture on 18 July. Each year since 2008, Swinburne astronomers have had 15 nights' exclusive access to the world's leading optical/infrared telescopes. Using the observatory's cutting-edge instrumentation, astronomers have produced amazing discoveries about the Universe. Over the past three years alone, direct access to the Keck Observatory has enabled Swinburne astronomers to make discoveries such as the diamond planet, the emerald-cut galaxy, an ultra-compact dwarf galaxy, and more recently the discovery of a new supernova located in the outskirts of a galaxy some 100 million light years away. Some of these discoveries are now being made via a remote control room in the middle of Swinburne's Hawthorn campus, more than 9000 kilometres away from the Keck Observatory.
Presented Assoc. Prof. John O'Meara on 6th July 2014.
Through the combination of large telescopes, advanced computer simulations and advancing theory, cosmologists have made significant progress in describing the universe on the largest scales and over cosmic times. However, many questions remain. Amongst these is a fundamental question underpinning the formation of galaxies - how do galaxies get the gas they need to fuel stars? In this talk, Assoc. Prof O'Meara will describe the hunt for this "pristine gas", left unaltered since its creation shortly after the Big Bang, and explore its implications for galaxy formation, including the formation of our own Milky Way.
Presented by Dr Nick Lomb on 16th May 2014.
Melbourne is brightly lit at night. Some lighting is needed for safety, security and to make the city centre an attractive place, but is it all necessary? Why are we lighting the sky when no one lives there? In this talk we will discuss good and bad lighting and consider the effects of night-time lighting on safety, on the environment, on nocturnal animals and, most importantly, on our health. We will end by discussing what we can do individually and collectively to improve the night-time environment.
Presented by Dr Jeff Cooke on 11th April 2014.
In this talk, I will take you back to a time shortly after the Big Bang when the first stars emerged from the darkness. Many of these stars were much more massive than our Sun and ended their short lives as extraordinarily brilliant supernova explosions. Using new techniques and the power of the Keck telescopes in Hawaii, now controllable from Swinburne, we are able to detect supernova explosions that occurred more than 12 billion years ago and are hot on the trail toward detecting the deaths of the very first stars.
Presented by Dr Ivo Labbe on 21st March 2014.
The arrival of modern space telescopes, such as the Hubble Space Telescope have ushered in a true golden age in astronomy. We can now peer farther and deeper into the universe than ever before and are getting an astonishing glimpse of the distant past. The most sensitive astronomical picture ever taken, the so-called Hubble Ultra Deep Field, reveals a time long gone when galaxies like our Milky way were only just forming, bursting with explosive star formation and ultramassive black holes. Hubble's powerful successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, is now being build. Launched in 2018, it will allow astronomers to reach the ultimate goal: studying the entire cosmic history, from the very first exploding stars just after the Big Bang, to the rich universe filled with diverse populations of galaxies today.
Presented by Professor Duncan Forbes on 11th February 2014.
Ancient star clusters are the fossils of the astronomical world. They formed at early times in the Universe and many have survived to the present day. New discoveries made with the Keck Observatory have uncovered a host of previously unknown star clusters - some more massive than small galaxies. Join us for an engaging presentation by Professor Duncan Forbes from Swinburne University, Australia, as he shares his current research and asks us all to consider, "What is a galaxy?"
Presented by Dr Eyal Kazin on 8th November 2013.
Astronomers and Physicists have an interesting ongoing relationship. Normally, physicists explain natural phenomena, and tell astronomers what they should be probing in space. Once in a while, however, astronomers point out observations that cause the theorists to poke in the dark for interpretations. Dr. Kazin will bring the audience up to speed on the frontiers of these golden ages of cosmology and explain why scientists are still baffled about the mysterious dark nature of the Universe.
Presented by Associate Professor Chris Blake on 11th October 2013.
As we peer out into space, what is the most distant light we can see? The answer is the cosmic microwave background radiation, the faint afterglow of the hot Big Bang across the sky, which has travelled for almost 14 billion years to reach us. Within the microwave background, at the edge of the observable Universe, we can see the tiny ripples out of which galaxies such as our own later formed. In this talk, Assoc. Prof. Chris Blake from Swinburne's Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing will explain the crucial importance of this faint radiation for establishing our modern picture of the Universe, and will describe recent breakthrough measurements from the European Space Agency's Planck satellite.
Presented by Dr Pamela Gay on 13th September 2013.
In order to handle the onslaught of data coming from space and ground-based telescopes, many astronomers are turning to the public for aid. The team behind the new CosmoQuest virtual research centre is building a first of its kind research community for professional and citizen scientists to work together on advancing our understanding of the universe; a community of people who are participating in doing science, and in learning about this cosmos we share. Working with NASA's Dawn, LRO, MESSENGER, and STScI teams, this facility is developing citizen science projects that accomplish needed tasks for mission science teams. It also provides a rich educational context through online classes, virtual star parties, and community collaboration areas. This talk will overview the history of citizen discovery and discuss CosmoQuest and how you can help discover our universe.
Presented by Syed Uddin on 9th July 2013.
Just over a century ago the fixed stars we see in the night sky were the limit of the entire Universe. The Universe was assumed to be static. Now we have discovered that our Universe is not only expanding but is also accelerating. Galaxies play an important role here. In this talk I will describe how our knowledge about the Universe as a whole is evolving over time with emerging techniques and technologies.
Presented by Dr Jonathan Whitmore on 17th May 2013
Two foundational physical theories of science: Quantum Physics and General Relativity are counterintuitive descriptions of reality. They also form the foundation upon which much of our modern technology depends: from MRI machines, to lasers, to GPS. The methods of science are not the methods of common sense -- in fact, relying on common sense will almost assuredly lead down a false path. This talk will include a brief history of the scientific method, its stunning successes over the centuries. It will conclude with examples of some of the strange features of both Quantum Physics and General Relativity.
Presented by Professor Rafael Guzman on 3rd May 2013.
The GTC is the last -and the largest- of the new generation of large ground-based observatories that have opened up a new era of discoveries in astronomy at the dawn of the XXIst Century. The GTC has been built by a consortium of institutions from Spain, Mexico and the University of Florida. In this talk, I will review the general characteristics of this state-of-the-art telescope. I will also describe the main contributions of the University of Florida to its world-class instrumentation, and will present the first scientific results ranging from the birth of the universe to the detection of new planets to be obtained after its first light.
Presented by Anna Sippel on 19th April 2013.
Stars don't shine forever - and especially very massive stars don't live very long before ending their lives as neutron stars or black holes. In this lecture we will focus on the endpoints of the evolution of such massive stars and how a black hole can be formed during a stellar explosion called supernova. We will discuss how black holes of different sizes can be detected under certain circumstances, and implications for theories that stellar-mass black holes could be the seeds of supermassive black holes we find at the centres of galaxies like our Milky Way.
Presented by Assoc. Prof. Sarah Maddison on 22nd March 2013.
When we look up into the night sky, almost all the light we see comes from stars: single stars, stellar clusters, and even giant ensembles of stars that make up galaxies. How and where do stars form? How and why do they evolve? And what is the fate of stars? In this talk we will go on a journey through the life of star, from their birth to death, and learn about the important role that stellar evolution plays in both galaxies and life.
Presented by Pierluigi Cerulo and Nicola Pastorello on 15th February 2013.
As part of a 14 billion years old expanding universe, we are able to directly experience only a tiny part of its history. In order to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the universe, it is fundamental to study the properties of objects which are billions of light years away from us. In fact, the light coming from these galaxies travels at a finite speed, giving us a picture of how they were when the universe was much younger. However galaxies are complex systems that evolve as they form new stars and interact with each other. As galaxies become old they acquire an apparently featureless elliptical morphology that, despite its structural simplicity, encloses all the complexities involved in galaxy evolution. Likewise a collection of family portraits that tells about the human society at the time when the pictures were taken, the observation and the subsequent comparison of nearby and distant elliptical galaxies allow us to reconstruct the evolution of the universe. In this talk we will present some results from the ongoing research conducted at Swinburne on nearby and distant galaxies with the most powerful currently available telescopes such as Keck, Gemini and Hubble.
Presented by Dr Lee Spitler on 7th December 2012.
Through a visual journey, you will travel with an astronomer, Dr. Lee Spitler, on an observing trip to the remote 6.5-metre Baade Magellan Telescope. In the still Chilean night, you will collect astronomy data to hunt for galaxies billions of light years away from Earth. Learn about the trials and tribulations of a professional astronomer.
Presented by Dr. Rita Tojeiro on 23rd Nivember 2012.
Over the last few decades astronomers have made enormous leaps in charting the Universe around us. Now, with accurate positions for millions of galaxies, we are finally able to trace the Cosmic Web in which we live. But these cosmic maps do far more than simply catalogue the contents of our Universe - they can help us to understand its origin and evolution as well as its ultimate fate. Cosmologist Dr Rita Tojeiro takes us on a voyage to the furthest reaches of space and explains how astronomers are unlocking some of the fundamental secrets of the Universe.
Presented by Prof. Richard de Grijs on 26th October 2012.
Studying galactic interactions is like sifting through the forensic evidence at a crime scene. Astronomers wade through the debris of a violent encounter, collecting clues so that they can reconstruct the celestial crime to determine when it happened. Take the case of Messier 82, a small, nearby galaxy that long ago bumped into its larger neighbour, Messier 81. When did this violent encounter occur? New infrared and visible-light pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope reveal for the first time important details of large clusters of stars, which arose from the interaction. The talk focuses on the train wrecks resulting from galaxy collisions and the implications for us in the Milky Way.
Presented by Associate Professor Darren Croton on 5th October 2012.
Black holes are amongst the most bizarre objects predicted by Einstein's theory of General Relativity. Many people may not realise that our own galaxy hosts a supermassive black hole at its centre that is three million times more massive than our own Sun! In this talk Associate Professor Darren Croton discusses the physics of black holes and their formation, how they can grow to become so massive, active black hole "quasars" in the distant universe and the unexpected impact that a supermassive black hole can have on the evolution of an entire galaxy. We will finish by side stepping into the exotic world of wormholes, the black hole's tormented cousin.
Presented by Prof. Karl Glazebrook on 9th September 2012.
On Sep 17th 1912 Vesto M. Slipher at Lowell Observatory measured the first redshift of a galaxy and established their large velocities, this laid the groundwork for Hubble's discovery of the expansion of the Universe. One hundred years later we have measured close to 2 million galaxy redshifts (about one third of these measured in Australia) and this has been fundamental to our understanding of the structure of the Universe. In this public lecture, Professor Karl Glazebrook will tell the story of how galaxy redshift surveys have transformed our picture of cosmology and what the future might entail.
Presented by Professor Jeremy Mould on 20th July 2012.
Dome A on the Antarctic Plateau may be the best site for astronomical telescopes on Earth, In the Mawson centennial year we should note that Australians have been pioneers in collecting these site test data. We now have an opportunity to join a Chinese project to build a 2.5 metre telescope at Dome A. This would be the most powerful infrared survey telescope anywhere. A two-micron survey of the southern hemisphere would find targets for spectroscopy with NASA's successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, JWST. We would detect the first generation of stars to form in the Universe after the Big Bang and see the powerful supernovae that produce the first black holes.
Presented by Christina Blom-Smith on 12 June 2012.
Despite their uniform appearance elliptical galaxies often have complex and disturbed formation histories. Without the presence of gas, dust and star formation, that we see readily in spiral galaxies, it can be extremely tricky to probe their intriguing formation histories. It is vital to understand how they form since elliptical galaxies contain the highest proportion of stars in the universe and the largest ones uniformly dominate galaxy clusters. Christina Blom, 3rd year PhD student at Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing will take you on a tour of our efforts to unravel the mysteries of elliptical galaxies and share some of our recent successes.
Presented by Catarina Ubach and Francesco Pignatale on 25th May 2012.
Solar System bodies such as planets, meteorites and comets are all created from small grains during the protoplanetary disk phase. The chemical composition of all these objects is intrinsically related to the chemistry of gas and grains in the parent disk. In the first part of the lecture we will explore the evidence we have to understand grain growth in discs. In the second part of the lecture we will go through the chemistry of discs and how thermodynamics can help us to understand the formation of our Solar System and the bulk composition of exoplanets orbiting stars different from our Sun.
Presented by Assoc. Prof. Chris Blake on 18th April 2012.
Scientists have been trying to understand the building blocks of matter for millenia. What are the fundamental particles and forces that shape the sub-atomic world? Even today, we are faced with a series of puzzles and challenges that could overturn our view of reality. What particle makes up the dark matter? What are neutrinos, and do they really trave l faster than the speed of light? What caused the slight imbalance between matter and anti-matter, leading to a Universe in the first place? Powerful particle accelerators, such as the Large Hadron Collider, are striving to answer these questions. However, by peering into the distant Universe we can find the ultimate particle accelerator of them all: the Big Bang. In this talk we will explore how observations to the edge of the Universe can test our theories about the smallest particles that exist, and may change our views about the fundamental nature of reality.
Presented by Professor Shri Kulkarni on 28th March 2012.
That occasionally new sources ("Stella Nova") would pop up in the heavens was noted more than a thousand years ago. The earnest study of cosmic explosions began in earnest less than a hundred years ago. Stella Novae are now divided into two major families, novae and supernovae (with real distinct classes in each). Equally the variable stars have a rich phenomenology. Together, supernovae and variable stars have contributed richly to key problems in modern astrophysics: distances to galaxies, cosmography and build up of elements in the Universe.
The Palomar Transient Factory (PTF), an innovative 2-telescope system, was designed to explicitly to chart the transient sky witha particular focus on events which lie in the nova-supernova gap.
Presented by Dr Michael Shara on 14th Feburary 2012.
This is based on a current exhibition a the American Museum of Natural History that Dr Michael Shara has curated. Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration offers a vision of space travel as it boldly explores our next steps in our solar system and beyond.
Presented by Assoc. Prof. Sarah Maddison on 20th October 2011.
The clockwork-like motion of the planets around the Sun is well understood thanks to Newton's universal law of gravitation. Using Newtonian physics and some simple mathematical equations, we can describe (and predict) the motion of a planet around the Sun. The solution to this "2-body problem" allows us to determine the location of an orbiting body at any time in the future. But when we add just one more body, the situation becomes a lot more complex. Our Solar System hosts a rich variety of dynamics, including the Kirkwood gaps in the asteroid belt, intricate structures in Saturn's rings, and the resonant orbits of Jupiter's Galilean satellites. In this talk we will discuss some of these interesting phenomena and how gravity shapes the Solar System.
Presented by Prof. Geoff Taylor on 2nd December 2011
The Large Hadron Collider is operating beautifully well. Data from the highest energy particle collisions produced in the laboratory is being amassed at rates never before achieved. The big experiments, including the ATLAS experiment, on which Australian scientists collaborate, are operating extraordinarily well considering their complexity. The level of sophistication of analyses achieved with such a short period of operation has surprised the scientific world. Searches for the Higgs boson, Supersymmetry and other exotic phenomena are well underway. This presentation will give the status of these searches in the LHC/ATLAS program.
The new ARC Centre of Excellence for Particle Physics at the Terascale ("CoEPP") brings together Australian experimentalist and theorists from Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and Monash. It will provide the resources and the focus to fully participate in the LHC program. A description of the CoEPP and its key goals will be covered in the presentation.
Presented by Dr Darren Croton on 15th June 2011.
Black holes are amongst the most bizarre objects predicted by Einstein's theory of General Relativity. Many people may not realise that our own galaxy hosts a supermassive black hole at its centre that is three million times more massive than our own Sun! In this talk Associate Professor Darren Croton discusses the physics of black holes and their formation, how they can grow to become so massive, active black hole "quasars" in the distant universe and the unexpected impact that a supermassive black hole can have on the evolution of an entire galaxy. We will finish by side stepping into the exotic world of wormholes, the black hole's tormented cousin.
Presented by Dr Glen Mackie on 15th April 2011.
Galaxies have been observed from ultra high energy gamma rays to long wavelength radio waves, providing fundamental insights into their formation and evolution. Until now, astronomy atlases preferentially showed (only) optical images of galaxies. Unveiling the secrets of some of the best observed galaxies, the published MAG contains over 250 full colour images of 35 galaxies spanning the whole electromagnetic spectrum. MAG explains why we see the component stars, gas and dust via different radiation processes, and describes the telescopes and instruments used. The lecture will discuss the metamorphosis from a personal web site to an academic textbook, the author - publisher (Cambridge University Press) relationship, and highlights from the textbook.
Presented by A/Prof Charles Lineweaver (ANU) on 19th November 2010.
The scientific search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has been going on for 50 years. So far, no signals from intelligent aliens have been detected. Presented by Associate Professor Charles Lineweaver (ANU) on 19 November 2010.
Presented by Dr Jonathan Gardner on 23rd February 2011.
Astronomy is going through a scientific revolution, responding to a flood of data from the Hubble Space Telescope, other space mission and large telescopes on the ground. In this talk, I will discuss some of the most important astronomical discoveries of the last 10 years and the role that space telescopes have played in those discoveries.
Presented by Professor Richard Ellis on 7th September 2010.
In 1919, Arthur Eddington demonstrated Einsteins's prediction that the Sun's gravity deflects the path of light rays. This phenomonon, termed 'gravitational lensing' is now one of the most powerful tools of the modern astronomer. Professor Ellis reviews the history and progress in charting how dark matter is distributed and how easily galaxies can be located using gravitational lensing.
Presented by Dr Christopher Fluke on 20th August 2010.
Advancements in modern astronomy are increasingly dependent on access to powerful computing facilities. This talk introduces the exciting new world of CPU-powered astronomy, which is taking us from computer games to galaxies.
Presented by Dr Emma Ryan-Weber on 16th April 2010.
How did the elements come into existence, and how we can use them to count the number of stars in the early Universe? This talk will reveal the dark ages of the Universe.
Presented by Sarah Burke-Spolaor and Lina Levin on 19th February 2010.
Pulsars are the compact cores of dead stars that periodically flash radio beams at Earth. The regularity of their flashing makes them somewhat like highly accurate clocks--however not all pulsars are very well behaved. This lecture will give a background to pulsar astronomy and detail the extreme behaviours that some of these enigmatic stars exhibit. New, bizarre classes of pulsars are regularly being discovered, and we will present hot-off-the-press discoveries that have been made by an international team of astronomers that includes members of the Swinburne Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing.