Welcome to the greatest science talks in all of Baton Rouge! Come check out our fantastic speakers from the comfort of your home!
Dr. Mike Brotherton
Supermassive Black Holes
What is the evidence that supermassive black holes as depicted in the science fiction movie INTERSTELLAR actually exist? And how do we weigh them? In recent years technological advances have allowed astronomers to make astonishing new observations that leave little doubt about the giant monsters that lurk in the hearts of distant galaxies as well as our own Milky Way.
Dr. Craig Wheeler
Betelgeuse: Active Now, Doomed to Explode Later
Betelgeuse is in many ways a typical massive red giant star doomed to explode when its core burns out and collapses to form a neutron star. It is also special because it is close enough at 500 light years to be spatially resolved and hence studied in unprecedented detail. The Great Dimming of early 2019 has only added to its allure. Some years ago, I began work with a group of undergraduates, the initial goal of which was to try to better estimate when Betelgeuse might explode. Our first discovery was that a single-star picture failed drastically to accounting for the observed rotational velocity. The rotation would be much too slow. We proposed that Betelgeuse was originally a binary system that underwent a merger to form a single more rapidly rotating star. I will summarize recent work that has elucidated the nature of Betelgeuse and its Great Dimming.
Join us (virtually) at 7pm, March 11th
The talks will be on our YouTube page LIVE.
Come enjoy this FREE event at 7pm. Engage with real life astronomers and discuss the most exciting avenues of science all with the added excitement of beer (in your own home).
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There is a discrepancy in the date. The text of this announcement says March 11, but the image says March 8. Which one is correct?