Event Type:
When:
Thursday, 4 March 2010 - 12:00am to 11:45pm
Special Guest Speaker: Prof. Saurabh W. Jha, Rutgers University
The last decade has seen a revolution in our understanding of the history and contents of our Universe. Professor Jha will describe how a class of exploding stars, called type Ia supernovae, are used to measure the expansion history of the Universe. Observations of bright, nearby supernovae (often discovered by amateur astronomers), combined with measurements of faint, distant supernovae have led to the astounding conclusion that the Universe is expanding faster and faster, driven by "dark energy" about which much remains to be learned.
