Dark Matter in Seven Acts

Video Presentation

Dr. Kelly Korreck, Astrophysicist, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Topic: What’s up with the Sun?Recent results from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe. The Parker Solar Probe (PSP) was designed to solve 3 mysteries of the sun and furthering our understanding of space weather. The talk covers Parker’s measurements of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs- billions of tons of material hurling through space at millions of miles an hour – part of space weather), as well as recent Venus encounters and a few other surprises that Parker has discovered!

Dr. Hannes Bernhardt, Postdoctoral Research Scholar, School Of Earth and Space Exploration. Arizona State University Topic: A Song of Ice and Fire: What Happened on Mars’ Oldest Large Volcanic Province.

Dr. Thomas Beatty, Arizona State University Topic: Exoplanets. Dr. Beatty research focuses on exoplanets, from first detection through to characterization of their atmospheres and climates. He uses near-infrared telescopes on the ground (primarily the Large Binocular Telescope, and the Hobby-Eberly Telescope) and space (primarily Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes and JWST in the future) to make super precise measurements of the light from exoplanets and their atmospheres. The goal is to better understand the cloud properties, composition, and formation histories of giant exoplanets, and to work towards the eventual characterization of the atmospheres and climates of smaller planets than might host life.

Dr. Drew G. Keppel, Caltech, LIGO and Synaptics

Drew spent eight years in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC),developing algorithms to detect gravitational wave signals from binary black holes and neutron stars. He has a Ph.D. in gravitational wave physics from Caltech and, as a member of the LSC, is a co-recipient of the 2016 Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. Topic: LIGO: Design and Destiny. Drew gives an overview of LIGO, discussing its design and purpose and its contribution to our astronomical understanding of the universe.