'Black Holes!' Topic for Nov. 2 Science Unwrapped at USU
Monday, Oct. 29, 2012
'Black Holes!' is the topic for Science Unwrapped Friday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m. in the Eccles Science Learning Center auditorium at USU. Admission is free and all are welcome.
Astrophysicist Pablo Laguna is featured speaker for this Friday's Science Unwrapped. Laguna is a professor and director of the Center for Relativistic Astrophysics at Georgia Tech.
“Black Holes!” is the topic for Utah State University’s Science Unwrapped Friday, Nov. 2. Featured speaker is astrophysicist Pablo Laguna, who unlocks some of the mysteries surrounding these daunting and powerful cosmic phenomena.
Laguna, professor and director of the Center for Relativistic Astrophysics at Georgia Tech, speaks at 7 p.m. in the Emert Auditorium (Room 130) of the Eccles Science Learning Center. Hosted by USU’s College of Science, his talk is free and open to all ages.
“If you could make a black hole out of the mass of the sun, it would be the size of Logan,” Laguna says.
He insists “black holes are simple,” primarily characterized by their extreme gravitational pull, so strong even light can’t escape them.
“I’m going to give everyone a 30-second course in general relativity,” he says.
Hands-on learning activities and refreshments follow Laguna’s talk. Guests will learn about gravitational waves, lasers and USU’s “Green Beam,” a LIDAR (light detection and ranging) instrument for studying the upper atmosphere that often lights Cache Valley’s night sky.
“Our students and faculty are putting together a lot of exciting activities,” says Shane Larson, Science Unwrapped committee chair and assistant professor in USU’s Department of Physics. “It will be an evening of out-of-this-world fun for everyone.”
The Nov. 2 event is the third and final presentation in Science Unwrapped’s fall 2012 “Nature’s Ancient Stories” series. Science Unwrapped resumes with a new series in January 2013.
For more information, call 435-797-3517, visit the Science Unwrapped website or view the ‘Science Unwrapped at USU’ page on Facebook.
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Contact: Shane Larson, 435-797-8838, s.larson@usu.edu
Writer: Mary-Ann Muffoletto, 435-797-3517, maryann.muffoletto@usu.edu
