Caltech Astronomy Public Lecture Series - The Dynamic Radio Sky - Dillon Dong - 07/12/2019

Radio waves show us a whole new universe, allowing us to peer through dust to see black holes, pulsars, and violent explosions. In this talk, we explore how radio astronomy came to be and what it reveals about the universe. Presentation: 00:14; speaker Q&A: 31:18; panel Q&A: 38:32 Date: June 12, 2019 Lecturer: Dillon Dong Title: The Dynamic Radio Sky Abstract: High in the plains of New Mexico, 27 of the world’s most accomplished radio dishes are observing day and night, working on one of their most ambitious projects yet. By the end of this July, they will have imaged the entire northern sky, detecting nearly 2 million astronomical radio sources. Many of these sources are fixtures in the sky, changing slowly over millions of years. But some of them are temporary and brilliant flashes: black holes launching new jets at close to the speed of light, supernova remnants plowing through dense shells of gas, and new populations of explosions that might only be identifiable with a radio telescope. What other explosions might be hiding out there, and how can we identify them? Let’s find out! Echo360 Two-Pane Video Stream: https://echo360.org/section/df8345ec-7d0c-4dc3-b450-65a423c24650/public Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/143414768@N07/albums/72157709618582326 Thumbnail Image Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USA.NM.VeryLargeArray.02.jpg