March 4, 2022 7-9PM

Event Type: Lecture and Stargazing
Title: Massive Binary Stars in Technicolor
Lecturer: Margaret Lazzarini
Position: Postdoctoral Fellow
Institution: Caltech
Abstract:
Stars come in a range of masses and sizes. The most massive ones, more than 8 times the mass of our Sun, will go on to form black holes or neutron stars at the end of their lives. These massive stars play an important role in our universe by producing high-energy radiation and creating heavy elements. Most massive stars form in binary systems, where two massive stars orbit around each other. As they age, these massive binary stars can interact in various ways including mass transfer from one to the other, merging the two stars together, or even one star exploding in an energetic supernova! In this talk, I’ll discuss how we use observations across the electromagnetic spectrum to view these massive binary stars in X-rays, ultraviolet, and visible wavelengths of light to learn more about the secret lives of these massive stars.