Science Briefing: Gravity: from Waves to Lenses
Location
Virtual
Contact Information
About Event
In this edition of NASA’s Universe of Learning Science Briefings, we will learn about gravity, the fundamental interaction between bodies with mass which works on large scales and changes the trajectory of all things that have mass, and even changes the trajectory of light. We will hear about gravitational waves that have recently been detected. We will also learn how gravity can form lenses in the Universe that bend light, and how these two phenomena are helping us to understand the Universe better
Dr. Andrew DeBenedictis will introduce gravity, one of the most ubiquitous yet mysterious phenomena in nature that governs the evolution of the whole Universe
Dr. Chiara Mingarelli will explain how to turn the Milky Way into a gravitational-wave detector
Dr. Kyle Finner will present the theory behind gravitational lensing, provide examples of gravitational lenses, and discuss their value for studying the Universe.
Image credit: NASA, ESA and J.-P. Kneib (Laboratorie d’Astrophysique de Marseille)
About the Series
The NASA’s Universe of Learning Science Briefings are professional learning telecons for the informal science education community, done in partnership with the NASA’s Museum & Informal Education Alliance, now found on NASA CONNECTS. These monthly thematic briefings highlight current NASA astrophysics explorations and discoveries from across the suite of NASA astrophysics missions. NASA scientists and engineers provide contemporary science results, and are able to respond to listener questions during the telecon. NASA-developed education and outreach resources, matched to the monthly theme, are included in every briefing.
In order to participate in the telecon and ask questions of the scientists, please join NASA’s Museum & Informal Education Alliance.
Facilitator & Presenters
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Dr. Andrew DeBenedictis is a faculty member at Simon Fraser University and a member of The Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences. His research involves the study of classical and quantum gravity and mathematical physics. Of particular interest to him are the singularities in black hole theory and what theories may eliminate them. He is also the author of two books: "The General Theory of Relativity: A Mathematical Exposition" (with A. Das, published by Springer), and "Quantum Field Theories and their Application to High-Energy Physics" (in progress). He studied physics and astronomy at the University of British Columbia, The University of Windsor, and Simon Fraser University. -
Dr. Chiara Mingarelli is a gravitational-wave astrophysicist based at Yale University, and a guest researcher at the Flatiron Institute's Center for Computational Astrophysics. She is looking to understand how supermassive black holes in the centers of massive galaxies merge. She does this by predicting their nanohertz gravitational-wave signatures, for which there is now evidence in pulsar timing array experiments. With pulsar timing data, Prof. Mingarelli and her students look for both individual supermassive black holes in binary systems, and for the gravitational-wave background that should be generated by their cosmic merger history. -
Dr. Kyle Finner grew up in the northern Canadian city of Whitehorse, Yukon. He lived in South Korea for 6 years while completing graduate school. He is now a Staff Scientist at Caltech/IPAC and is developing a processing pipeline to detect exoplanets with the gravitational microlensing technique used by the upcoming NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope mission. -
Dr. Seppo Laine is a Staff Scientist at Caltech/IPAC. He was a member of the Science User Support and IRAC Instrument Support teams of the Spitzer Space Telescope from 2002 to 2021. He is currently involved in the formulation of the Roman Space Telescope’s Science Support Center at Caltech/IPAC and in the Caltech/IPAC Communications and Education team. His scientific interests include low surface brightness objects, and galaxy dynamics and interactions.
Event Resources
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Slide Presentation PPT
35 MB -
Resources PDF
318 KB -
Presentation Subtitles
80 KB