“Chandra and the Invisible Universe”
18 February 2024 (Sunday) , 9:00 a.m. Philippine Standard Time (01:00 UTC), 17 February, 2024 8:00 pm EST
By Jonathan C. McDowell, PhD (Astrophysicist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Chandra X-ray Observatory)
Abstract: The famous Hubble Space Telescope takes the sharpest visible-light images, but only its X-ray telescope cousins can see the invisible, high-energy light that helps complete the cosmic story. The sharpest X-ray pictures of the cosmos come from the Chandra X-ray Observatory, launched in 1999 but still making discoveries today. Chandra’s X-ray camera can see erupting black holes, exploding stars and colliding galaxies — some of the most energetic events in space.
Jonathan McDowell will highlight Chandra’s discoveries and explain how it and other X-ray telescopes probe cosmic dramas, while infrared images unveil the cool, gentle process of star birth, and pictures taken with ordinary visible light give an overview of the everyday life of the galaxies. Combining all three views has been crucial to the astonishing discoveries astronomers have made in recent decades.
Jonathan McDowell is an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a member of the Chandra X-Ray Center, which operates the Chandra X-ray Observatory spacecraft.
McDowell obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, England, in 1987. After postdoctoral research at Jodrell Bank radio observatory in the U.K. and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, he has been at CfA since 1992.
McDowell studies quasars, galaxies and black holes as well as the effects of satellite constellations on astronomy. He is also the author of the internet newsletter Jonathan’s Space Report, which has been reporting on satellite and rocket launches since 1989.
In 1993, the International Astronomical Union named asteroid 1933 OB as 4589 McDowell in his honor.
Register now for this free Zoom online talk using this link –
or by scanning the QR code below
or in the poster shown here using your cellphone camera. After registration, check your registered e-mail for the Zoom meeting link. Please feel free to share to your friends and relatives. Thank you. See you!