DDO: Astronomy Speaker's Night - Blowing Bubbles in Plasma: Galactic Fountains at the Centers of Galaxy Clusters (ONLINE)
Speaker: Leo Alcorn
Join us, from the comfort of your home! This program will feature live-stream views from the DDO's 74-Inch telescope (Weather permitting). Explore breaking news from space and current research into what lies beyond our home planet! Each night, we’ll take a virtual tour of the DDO, hear from our speakers about their own amazing space research, and ask them all our questions about what they know and what they’re discovering.
Galaxy clusters are a laboratory showcasing the most extreme and striking physical processes in the universe. The centers of galaxy clusters host strange and dynamic galaxies - the most massive galaxies observed. Brightest Cluster Galaxies are at the centers of huge dark matter haloes that form gigantic clusters of galaxies. Hot glowing plasma that forms in these clusters also interacts with monster central galaxies, creating continuous galaxy-scale fountains of plasma and gas as the plasma interacts with the central galaxy’s supermassive black hole. In this talk, we will discuss the processes that lead to the most massive and visually-stunning phenomenon of galactic fountains at the centers of galaxy clusters.
Leo is a postdoctoral fellow at the David A Dunlap Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics. Her research focuses on the properties of galaxies in galaxy clusters and how dense environments such as galaxy clusters and proto-clusters affect galaxy evolution. In her free time, she is an amateur ballet dancer and writes short horror fiction. Fun fact, she has published two short horror pieces in the punk zine, 979Represent.
Only one registration per household is required. Deadline to register for this program is Wednesday, September 7, 2022 at 4:00pm. Prior to the start of the program you will be emailed information on the virtual program links and any specific information relating to your program.
Who can attend: Ages 10 and up
Fee: $12.76
Registration: ActiveRH
Organized by: RASC, Toronto Centre