Saturday Evening Astronomy Talk & Telescope (October 20)

A Beginner's Guide to Building Your Own Galaxy

In just 13.8 billion years, the Universe has managed to create billions of galaxies - from beautiful grand design spirals to massive ellipticals containing hundreds of billions of stars. But how did it do this, starting from nothing but a primordial soup of elementary particles? In this talk I will explain how galaxies are made and sculpted by the forces of gravity and by the violent explosions of supernovae and black holes, and will describe what mysteries remain as we approach the 100th anniversary of the discovery of galaxies.

Dr. Andrew Benson is a theoretical astrophysicist at The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science specializing in the study of all aspects of galaxy formation. His work is primarily computational in nature and makes use of some of the largest computers available to model how galaxies formed and evolved. He is a member of the LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration and the WFIRST High Latitude Survey science investigation team, where he is working to understand what these future missions might teach us about dark energy and dark matter.

The talk will begin at 5:30 pm and end around 7:00 pm. There will be food available for purchase, but guests are welcome to bring their own food as well. When it is dark enough, the 100-inch telescope will be open to the attendees to view through. This is a rare opportunity to look through the telescope astronomer Edwin Hubble used to prove the existance of distance galaxies and discover the expanding Universe. As always, the telescope viewing is dependant on the weather, and the number of attendees will determine how many objects can be seen. Attendees will be given a numbered ticket to enter the telescope dome in orderly groups of about 15.

When driving up please allow plenty of time. The drive from the base of the Angeles Crest Hightway to Mount Wilson can take about 45 minutes, and there is a short walk from the parking lot into the auditorium. Dress warmly as it can start getting cold this time of year up on the mountain, and our auditorium is not heated.