Media
Cosmic Videos
Recycling and Synthesis in the Cosmos
(February 10, 2008) Dr. Mike Bolte from the University of California Observatories discusses the enormous advances being made in the study of stellar evolution and the genesis of elements from the simple to the complex. Bolte and his collaborators make observations of the oldest stars and star clusters in our Milky Way Galaxy to better […]
Read More >Cosmic Dawn: Pursuit of the First Galaxies
(January 16, 2008) Dr. Richard Ellis discusses how using a pioneering technique called “gravitational lensing” allows an international team of astronomers to measure traces of the very first galaxies formed after the Big Bang. Richard, the Steele Professor of Astronomy at the California Institute of Technology, and his colleagues have made remarkable progress uncovering the […]
Read More >Making it Big in Astronomy
(December 19, 2007) In 1977 Jerry Nelson was physicist at UC’s Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and he was asked to join a group to vision the future of US astronomy. For Nelson it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to design a major apparatus with “cosmic implications.” His work translated into the revolutionary twin 10-meter Keck telescopes. Decades […]
Read More >Where Do Planets Come From?
(September 10, 2007) Understanding the birth of planets has been a long-sought goal. It is the key to learning about Earth and the other types of planets orbiting stars other than our Sun. What are Mauna Kea Observatories telling us about our cosmic origins? What amazing discoveries are being made with the most technologically advanced […]
Read More >The Tale of Star and Planet Formation
(August 16, 2007) Star and planet formation is happening today in a molecular cloud near you! By observing objects of different ages we can develop an understanding of how the process works. Dr. Hillenbrand, from the California Institute of Technology, will highlight her observations made at the Keck Observatory to help tell this tale. Science […]
Read More >OSIRIS: The Latest Keck Instrument and its Science
(July 22, 2007) UCLA astronomer Dr. James Larkin talks about research using OSIRIS. OSIRIS is the newest instrument at Keck and is designed to dissect small patches of the sky in unprecedented detail. It has already been applied to study the moons of the Jovian planets, the black hole at the center of our Galaxy, […]
Read More >Voyager Mission: The Journey Continues
(June 22, 2007) From the “Evenings with Astronomers” series. Dr. Edward C. Stone, the David Morrisroe Professor of Physics at Caltech and one of the leading scientists of our time, has been the project scientist for the Voyager mission since 1972. As the two Voyager spacecraft flew by Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, they revealed […]
Read More >Are There Other Worlds? Modern Answers to a 2500-Year-Old Question
(May 22, 2007) From the “Evenings with Astronomers” Series. Dr. Charles Beichman of the Michelson Science Center at Caltech talks about the 21st century tools being used to answer one of the most ancient questions: “Are there other worlds like our own?” How are astronomers probing the birthplace of stars and planets? How will scientists […]
Read More >Dusty Rings in Our Solar System: One Ring, Two Ring, Red Ring, Blue Ring
(May 8, 2007) Dr. Imke de Pater of the University of California at Berkely talks about how the giant planets in our Solar System are surrounded with ring systems, similar to the planetary disks around stars. Within these ring systems are narrow ringlets, broad dust sheets, wavy structures and small satellites. In the summer of […]
Read More >Pluto and Other Dwarf Planets: Discoveries in our Solar System
(March 27, 2007) From the “Evenings with Astronomers” series. In 2005, Dr. Michael Brown and his colleagues discovered 2003 UB313, now officially known as “Eris.” The discovery marked the first time in 75 years that an object larger than Pluto had been found in our Solar System. The discovery turned the astronomical world on its […]
Read More >