On May 12th, 2022, the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration released the first-ever direct image of Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the center of our galaxy. Tonight we are very pleased to welcome Dr. Lia Medeiros, a member of the EHT Collaboration, to the WSH. If you watched the NSF’s streaming Q&A session following their press conference, you may recognize Lia as a member of the panel. Read More
Weekly Space Hangout: May 18, 2022 — Bringing Exoplanets into Focus, Bit by Bit with Alex Madurowicz
Tonight’s guest is Alexander Madurowicz, PhD candidate at Stanford University. Alex has developed an algorithm that reconstructs an exoplanet’s surface using a single, annular image acquired by looking directly at the sun. Light from this ring is then undistorted by reversing its having been bent by the gravitational lens (i.e., our Sun,) which yields the ring of light being turned back into a whole, round planet. Read More
Weekly Space Hangout: May 11, 2022 — Small, but Powerful, Micronovae with Dr. Simone Scaringi
Astronomers recently announced that, with the help of the ESO VLT, they had observed a new type of small — yet powerful — stellar explosion: a Micronova. The study, which was published in “Nature” on April 20, was led by Dr. Simone Scaringi, astronomer at Durham University in the UK. We are pleased to welcome Simone to tonight’s WSH to tell us more about this exciting discovery. Read More
Weekly Space Hangout: May 4, 2022 – News Roundup!
There always seems to be so many news stories that we never get to cover – but tonight we will get to discuss a few more than usual! Read More