When:
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM CT
Where: Technological Institute, F160, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208 map it
Audience: Faculty/Staff - Student - Public - Post Docs/Docs - Graduate Students
Contact:
Pamela Villalovoz
(847) 491-3644
Group: Physics and Astronomy Astrophysics Seminars
Category: Academic
Title: Imaging Black Holes now and in the future
Speaker: Heino Falcke, Radboud University Nijmegen
Host: Rocco Coppejans
Abstract: One of the most fundamental predictions of general relativity are black holes. Their defining feature is the event horizon, the surface that even light cannot escape. So far, we have never seen the event horizon, but this is about to change. Advanced computer simulations make clear predictions of how the shadow of black holes should look like and global interferometric radio observations with the Event Horizon Telescope are now trying to image the supermassive black hole in the center of our own Milky Way and the radio galaxy M87 for the very first time. To improve the imaging quality further more telescopes should be added to the array, in particular in Africa. The more distant future will belong to higher frequencies and space-based interferometry. The talk will give an overview of the ongoing research to image and simulate black holes, as well as of plans for future expansions.
Keywords: Physics, Astronomy, Astrophysics