Sam Palmer (Electronics Engineer, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and Lecturer on Astronomy, Harvard University) will be GAAC’s April speaker, with a presentation on the LIGO gravitational wave observatory.
What are gravitational waves? Check out  https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/, which describes them as “…ripples in space-time (the fabled “fabric” of the Universe) caused by massive objects moving with violent accelerations (in outer space that means objects like neutron stars or black holes orbiting around each other at ever increasing rates, or stars that blow themselves up).” That’s a picture of a LIGO observatory, above.
We’re really looking forward to this one.
More on our speaker:
Sam Palmer is an Electrical Engineer and Radio Astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. A member of the CfA’s Radio & Geoastronomy Group, Sam built the 1.2 m “Mini” radio telescope which has been hugely instrumental in increasing our understanding of the structure and chemistry of the Milky…
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Good Morning Gloucester 