Public Talks

Tuesday August 20th, 2013, 18:30

Parque Explora

The Supermassive Black Hole in the Center of the Milky Way

Prof. Elena Rossi

Summary

Our Galaxy is our home, and in this talk I will show you a special room in our home: the Galactic Centre! All there is extreme: there is a supermassive black hole, stars travelling faster than everywhere else, and explosions have recently happened. I will journey together through this fascinating environment and learn what astronomers know and what they still do not understand.

Friday August 23rd, 2013, 18:30

Medellin Planetarium

Measuring the Universe with current and future Telescopes

Prof. Bernhard Brandl

Summary

Modern astronomy is one of the most vibrant areas of sciences, searching for Earth-like planets in other solar systems as well as the first stars and galaxies in our Universe. Astronomy, however, is foremost an observational, experimental science, requiring bigger and better telescopes, instruments and detectors. Without the tremendous advances in many areas of technology over the past 50 years, from computer control and analysis to optical manufacturing and detector technology, the modern telescopes would not have been possible. In my talk I will discuss the scientific and technical challenges for many kinds of observations, review the history of telescopes and show a few examples of future astronomical facilities

Poster