for the week of February 13th, 2012

Upcoming Events

Big Apple Colloquium
with Professor Victoria Kaspi of McGill University

Friday 2/17, 3:00pm

Pupin 428

The Big apple colloquium occurs once every semester as a special
guest lecture to be attended by astronomers from all over New York
City. Last semester we went down to NYU to hear about Suppermassive
Black Holes and this time Columbia is hosting Victoria Kaspi. She'll
discuss her work on neutron stars and how their magnetic fields,
notoriously difficult to measure, play an important role in the different
flavors of neutron stars we see.

Our Human Search for Life in the Universe
Public Outreach Lecture by Maureen Teyssier followed by Rooftop Observing

Friday 2/17, 7:00pm

Pupin 301

We have only a very small idea of what alien life would look like, but we
have a pretty good idea of where to find it. Maureen, a current Ph.D. student,
will explain how we've used basic principles in chemistry, physics and biology,
 to place limits on what kinds of life could exist in our universe, and even
better limits on where it could exist. From these basic ideas, we learn how
scientists have designed targeted studies to find life. Lecture: 7:00-7:30 PM
Telescope Observation: 7:30-9:00 PM Astrophotography Slideshow: 7:30-9:00 PM

Astro Snippets

Columbia graduate student, Jana Grcevich, finds potential hidden galaxies. (Space.com)

Do you ever wish you could do problem sets on an ipad? You need to use Latex and an ipad. (Astrobetter)

Stars can “capture” dark matter from their environment and boost energy output. (Astrobites)

Weekly Calendar

(Event Descriptions)