Past Colloquia
The formation of supermassive black holes in the universe
Cody Hall
Priya Natarajan (Yale)
October 04, 2013
14:00 - 15:00
Populations of quasars powered by accretion onto SMBHs with masses in excess of 10^9 solar masses are now detected when the Universe was barely a Gyr old. And in the local universe the centers of several nearby brightest cluster galaxies harbor behemoths that weigh ~ a…
Ocean Worlds of the Outer Solar System
Cody Hall
Kevin Hand (NASA JPL)
September 27, 2013
14:00 - 15:00
At least five moons in the outer solar system may harbor liquid water oceans. These oceans have likely persisted for much of the history of the solar system and as a result they are highly compelling targets in our search for life beyond Earth. Dr….
Directly Imaging and Characterizing Extrasolar Planets
Cody Hall
Thayne Currie (Toronto)
September 20, 2013
14:00 - 15:00
Direct imaging is the new frontier in exoplanet detection and the means by which we will eventually discover a true Earth twin around a Sun-like star. In this talk, I introduce the new observing techniques/powerful image processing methods used to directly image planets. I will…
New Opportunities with the Gemini Observatory
Cody Hall
Markus Kissler-Patig (Gemini)
September 18, 2013
15:00 - 16:00
Gemini Observatory’s director Markus Kissler-Patig will present an update of the facility and introduce some new opportunities for astronomers at Gemini. Gemini operates twin 8-m telescopes, one in Hawaii and the other in Chile. The departure of the UK from Gemini’s international partnership at the…
The Environmental Impact on Powerful Radio Galaxies
Cody Hall
Julie Banfield (CSIRO,Australia)
September 13, 2013
14:00 - 15:00
There are many various types of morphological properties of radio galaxies and it remains unclear as to what causes these differences. Do the intrinsic properties of the central engine (‘nature’) mold and shape the radio source? Do the properties of the surrounding medium of the…
Observing Luminous Infrared Galaxies at Low and High Redshift
Cody Hall
Lee Armus (IPAC/Caltech)
April 19, 2013
14:00 - 15:00
The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) provided the first unbiased survey of the sky at mid and far-infrared wavelengths, giving us a comprehensive census of the infrared emission properties of galaxies in the local Universe. Luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs), which emit a significant fraction of their…
Hold On To Your Volatiles – Modeling Evolution And Composition Of Small Icy Bodies
Cody Hall
Gal Sarid (Harvard)
April 11, 2013
14:00 - 15:00
The outer Solar System hosts a vast population of small icy bodies, considered to be primitive remnants from the planet formation epoch. Early thermal and collisional processes affected such planetesimals to varying degrees depending on the time scale and dynamics of early planet growth. Hence,…
The Formation of Galaxy Nuclei
Cody Hall
Anil Seth (Utah)
April 05, 2013
14:00 - 15:00
Compact, massive nuclear star clusters are found at the centers of most elliptical and spiral galaxies. They are among the densest stellar systems in the universe, and often coexist with massive black holes. The mass of both the black holes and nuclear star clusters correlates…
Formation and Retention of Planets in Disks
MP 203
Wladimir Lyra (NASA/JPL-Caltech)
April 05, 2013
11:00 - 12:00
The ill fate of the building blocks of planets in gaseous disks around young stars stands as one of the major unsolved problems in the theory of planet formation. Our current level of understanding indicates that solids in circumstellar disks migrate into the star or…
The case for stochastic orbital migration in proto-planetary disks and Saturn’s rings
MP 203
Hanno Rein (IAS/ Princeton)
March 28, 2013
13:00 - 14:00
Many of the 869 known extra-solar planets are in multi-planetary systems. These systems are the most interesting ones to study because they allow us to place tight constraints on planet formation. The protoplanetary disk in which planets form is turbulent and therefore stochastic forces are…