ADVENTURES OF AN ASTEROID HUNTER
Dr Carrie Nugent, astronomer at the California Institute for Technology (Caltech)
This enlightening related to the fate of the dinosaurs. talk centres on As a result, near-Earth asteroids our oldest cosmic are now constantly monitored in neighbours, order to try and prevent another asteroids, and their catastrophic strike on Earth. Carrie importance to us Nugent is part of the team that uses here on Earth. Not NASA's NEOWISE telescope, a very only can asteroids shed light on the valuable telescope that was pulled beginnings of the Solar System, they out of retirement and reprogrammed also pose a massive risk to our safety. to search the skies for asteroids and For example, in 2013 the Chelyabinsk catalogue them. In her talk, she asteroid entered the Earth's reveals some breathtaking details atmosphere over a remote area of about the size of the asteroid that Russia and created a shockwave wiped out the dinosaurs. She also that shattered windows, rocked explains what else is already being buildings and caused hundreds of done to prevent another potentially injuries. A similar incident, on a deadly asteroid strike, and what much larger scale, is thought to be needs to be done in future.
HOW TO TAKE A PICTURE OF A BLACK HOLE
Dr Katie Bouman, imaging scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
So far we've only been able to see what the inside of a black hole might look like thanks to computer graphic tendering, like those seen in the film Interstellar. Despite Einstein's prediction of black holes in his theory of general relativity more than 100 years ago, we still haven't been able to take a picture of one. But that amid be about to change any day now, explains Katie Bouman in her fascinating TED Talk.
A telescope capable of capturing images of a black hole would need to be as big as the Earth itself, making it impossible. However, Bouman is working as part of a team of international experts to produce a giant computational telescope - known as the Event Horizon Telescope - combining the power of telescopes around the world with imaging algorithms in fill in the gaps. In this talk, she reveals the extraordinary process of developing these algorithms based on what experts believe a black hole should look like, using pieces of images from everyday life in order to avoid bias. Viewers will get a glimpse at how astronomers, physicists, mathematicians and engineers have come together to solve a seemingly impassible quandary, pushing the boundaries of science.
IS OUR UNIVERSE THE ONLY UNIVERSE?
Professor Brian Greene, professor of mathematics and physics, Columbia University
This action-packed talk explores the possibility that our 1111 universe is part of a vast complex of universes called the multiverse. The animated lecture is given by theoretical physicist Brian Greene, perhaps the best-known proponent of superstring theory, the idea that tiny strands of energy vibrating in a higher dimensional space-time create every single particle and force in the universe. He breaks down the complicated idea into three parts, starting with the idea that space is expanding, and how Nobel Prize-winning research in the 1990s discovered that rather than slowing down, this expansion rate is getting faster. The talk reveals how this is driven by mysterious 'dark energy, and explains how string theory fits in to all this. Touching on the possibility of additional dimensions in space that we have not yet detected because of their tiny scale, Greene ends on some startling revelations about what future astronomers will observe and conclude, based on the idea that other galaxies are rushing away from our own, and will eventually be too far away to see.