Livestream Lecture - September 21, 2022
“Searching for Black Holes in the Milky Way”
by
Jessica Lu, Associate Professor, Astronomy, UC Berkeley
The population of black holes left over from dead stars in the Milky Way is almost entirely unexplored. Only two dozen black holes are confidently known in our galaxy - all in binaries. As a result, many basic properties of black holes remain uncertain at the order of magnitude level, including the total number of black holes in the Milky Way, their masses, the fraction in binary systems, and whether black holes receive kicks at birth.
To understand these properties, we need to find and study a larger population of black holes, both in isolation and in binary systems. Gravitational lensing is opening a new window onto black holes, and the first free-floating black holes are now being discovered. Dr. Lu will present results from the search for black holes today and describe how the known number of black holes will increase 100x over the next decade.
Brief Bio
Jessica Lu received her undergraduate degree in Physics from MIT in 2000. She worked as a software engineer in Silicon Valley for three years before returning to academia to pursue her PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics at UCLA, which was granted in 2008. After completing her PhD, she was awarded a Millikan Postdoctoral Fellowship in Observational Astronomy at Caltech. She was also an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Astronomy (IfA) in the University of Hawaii, Manoa before joining the (IfA) faculty in 2013. In the summer of 2016, Jessica joined the faculty of the UC Berkeley Astronomy Department, and is currently an Associate Professor.
How to Attend
To attend the virtual meeting "live" with the opportunity to ask questions:
Connect starting at 6:30PM PDT on Wednesday, September 21st by clicking this Zoom meeting link: https://zoom.us/j/95830904603?pwd=UDNKdm16US9wK1EremdJeGptdjNNdz09
Clicking the link may prompt you to install the Zoom virtual meeting app. Once installed, you will be able to join the meeting. If the app is already installed on your device, simply enter the meeting number 958 3090 4603 and password 116064 to join the meeting.
Once joined, you can test your audio and video, and greet other members.
Board members will join the meeting early to help troubleshoot any problems with audio or video.
"Doors Open" at 6:30PM PDT and the announcements and lecture will start promptly at 7:00PM PDT.
Alternatively, please visit the following channels to attend the live stream:
SFAA YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChuBJGp_iJYZ11q_ayA-q3A
SFAA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/152754481404310
“Searching for Black Holes in the Milky Way”
by
Jessica Lu, Associate Professor, Astronomy, UC Berkeley
The population of black holes left over from dead stars in the Milky Way is almost entirely unexplored. Only two dozen black holes are confidently known in our galaxy - all in binaries. As a result, many basic properties of black holes remain uncertain at the order of magnitude level, including the total number of black holes in the Milky Way, their masses, the fraction in binary systems, and whether black holes receive kicks at birth.
To understand these properties, we need to find and study a larger population of black holes, both in isolation and in binary systems. Gravitational lensing is opening a new window onto black holes, and the first free-floating black holes are now being discovered. Dr. Lu will present results from the search for black holes today and describe how the known number of black holes will increase 100x over the next decade.
Brief Bio
Jessica Lu received her undergraduate degree in Physics from MIT in 2000. She worked as a software engineer in Silicon Valley for three years before returning to academia to pursue her PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics at UCLA, which was granted in 2008. After completing her PhD, she was awarded a Millikan Postdoctoral Fellowship in Observational Astronomy at Caltech. She was also an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Astronomy (IfA) in the University of Hawaii, Manoa before joining the (IfA) faculty in 2013. In the summer of 2016, Jessica joined the faculty of the UC Berkeley Astronomy Department, and is currently an Associate Professor.
How to Attend
To attend the virtual meeting "live" with the opportunity to ask questions:
Connect starting at 6:30PM PDT on Wednesday, September 21st by clicking this Zoom meeting link: https://zoom.us/j/95830904603?pwd=UDNKdm16US9wK1EremdJeGptdjNNdz09
Clicking the link may prompt you to install the Zoom virtual meeting app. Once installed, you will be able to join the meeting. If the app is already installed on your device, simply enter the meeting number 958 3090 4603 and password 116064 to join the meeting.
Once joined, you can test your audio and video, and greet other members.
Board members will join the meeting early to help troubleshoot any problems with audio or video.
"Doors Open" at 6:30PM PDT and the announcements and lecture will start promptly at 7:00PM PDT.
Alternatively, please visit the following channels to attend the live stream:
SFAA YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChuBJGp_iJYZ11q_ayA-q3A
SFAA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/152754481404310
Date: Wednesday, September 21, 2022
Time: 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Pacific