June 10, 2016 8-10PM

Event Type: Lecture and Stargazing
Title: Black Holes Don’t Suck
Lecturer: Chiara Mingarelli
Position: Postdoctoral Fellow
Institution: Caltech
Abstract:
Black holes have gained notoriety as dangerous cosmic vacuum cleaners — sucking up everything in their path. I will dispel this myth by guiding you through the weird and wonderful world of black holes. We will learn how to detect a black hole using several techniques: by using the motion of their companion stars to infer the black hole’s presence, or by finding gas that heats up and shines as it falls onto the black hole. But what if there are no stars or gas nearby? We can “listen” to the black holes by searching for gravitational waves — ripples in the fabric of spacetime. After this tour of the black hole landscape, hopefully you will agree that black holes don’t suck!