May 2, 2024 8-10 PM

Event Type: Lecture and Stargazing
Title: Inside and Out: 
The Full Picture of Galaxy Evolution
Lecturer: Evan Nunez
Position:
Institution: Caltech
Abstract:
Galaxies are collections of gas, stars, and dark matter held together by gravity. Much like humans, galaxies grow and change over their lives, which span billions of years.  One major way that galaxies can change is by forming new generations of stars from collapsed clouds of gas.  Thus, to understand the life and evolution of a galaxy, we must fully account for all of its gas. This includes both gas (1) inside the galaxy where stars form and live, and (2) outside of the galaxy, in a sort of atmosphere surrounding the galaxy.  But like the Earth's atmosphere, galactic atmospheres are nearly invisible and difficult to detect. In this talk, I will summarize our understanding of how galaxies evolve over their lives, and new observations that indicate the presence and importance of a galaxy's atmosphere.