UofT AstroTour: Listening for Stellar Whipcracks
Stephen Ro
A supernova is the explosive conclusion of a star where extremely hot, luminous gas is ejected. These events can momentarily become some of the brightest objects in the universe. Thousands of supernovae have been observed in the past several decades and they’ve given us incredible insights into the universe. In the past few years, a handful of observations have discovered another energetic flash of light which precedes the supernova. These flashes are generally missed by supernova-dedicated telescopes since they are very brief in duration with colours outside of the telescopes’ spectral range. In this talk, Stephen Ro will introduce aspects of explosion physics by wielding a whip to discuss the origin of this flash. Later, he will demonstrate how the majority of people have already seen a similar flash here on earth.
About the Speaker
Stephen was born in Toronto and grew up in Caledon, Ontario. He attended Queen’s University and completed his undergraduate degree in mathematical physics. Now, he is a fourth year doctoral student studying the winds of massive stars and core-collapse supernovae. In his spare time he may be having coffee, playing guitar, cycling around Toronto or some combination of the above.
Location
University of Toronto - St. George Campus
McLennan Physical Labs, Room 102
60 St. George Street
http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/astrotours/?page_id=392
The U of T Astronomy Public Tour, or AstroTour, is a monthly event operated by the graduate students of the U of T Astronomy Department. The Tour features a public lecture by a member of the Department on topics ranging from their research to great moments in astronomical history. Following the lecture, tour-goers can peer at the night sky through the Department’s balcony and dome telescopes, or watch a planetarium show run live by astronomer. Admission to the tour is free. Seating for the lecture is on a first-come, first-served basis (doors open ten minutes before the start of the lecture), and the telescope observing is walk-in.
The planetarium shows require registration which will become available at noon Thursday October 30th using the following link: