June 26, 2026 8-10 PM

Event Type: Lecture and Stargazing
Title: Illuminating the “Emptiness” of Space with Radio Beacons
Lecturer: Stella Ocker
Position: Postdoctoral Fellow
Institution: Caltech
Abstract:
While stars are the most obvious naked-eye feature in the night sky, they actually constitute a tiny fraction of all the ordinary matter in the universe. Most of the visible matter in the cosmos takes the form of diffuse ionized gas, or “plasma,” distributed between stars and galaxies. In this talk I will discuss how pulsars and fast radio bursts are used as cosmic flashlights to illuminate the distribution of this plasma within our Milky Way and across cosmic time. I will share the exciting prospects for studying these cosmic radio sources with upcoming surveys led by Caltech, which will ultimately lead us to a deeper understanding of galaxy evolution and the universe itself.