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X-Ray Astronomy in Living Color
Observational astronomy is mostly a story about measuring photons with precision — how many are there, what direction are they coming from, when do they arrive, and what are their energies? A key tool in astrophysical studies is spectroscopy — deciphering photon energies by exploring the rainbow of colors in the light that we detect. Most of us are familiar with rainbows created either naturally in a misty sky or intentionally with prisms and diffraction gratings. But how do we do this when we are talking about X-rays? It turns out, this is much more difficult, but extremely important for our understanding of the most exotic phenomena in our Universe, such as black holes and neutron stars! Dr. Nowak will discuss the most precise instruments for measuring “X-ray Rainbows”. Those are the Chandra-High Energy Transmission Gratings and the XRISM satellite, which uses “quantum detectors” to open up a new frontier in X-ray spectroscopy. He will also discuss possible future instruments that could be used to make precise measurements of "X-ray rainbows" from distant, supermassive black holes to reveal the “missing matter” in the Universe (that you probably didn’t even realize was missing!)
Michael Nowak is a Research Professor in the Physics Department as well as the Associate Director of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. Nowak’s work encompasses both observation and theory of astrophysical compact object (black hole and neutron star) systems. Program sponsored by St. Louis Astronomical Society and the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences at Washington University. Free parking in yellow zones and University garages. To view on line, please e-mail [email protected] to receive Zoom link.
Event Links
Virtual: https://go.evvnt.com/3781130-0
