Events

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) is helping scientists to produce the largest and most comprehensive map of galaxies ever seen. This map is then being used by cosmologists to understand the growth of the Universe over cosmic time. In this month’s KPL astronomy talk, Dustin Lang will discuss the technology behind this innovative experiment, and how these advances have allowed cosmologists to make insights that change our view of the Universe.

The first three minutes after the Big Bang shaped the entire history of our Universe. In this month’s KPL astronomy talk, Encieh Erfani (Perimeter Institute) will take us on a journey back to these formative moments, exploring how matter, light, and the building blocks of today’s cosmos first emerged, all in just 180 seconds of cosmic history.

Globular clusters are ancient groups of stars found in every single galaxy, and they are key tools for studying the evolution of the Universe. These dense cosmic cities contain some of the oldest stars in existence, offering us a glimpse back in time. In this month’s KPL astronomy talk, Ana Ennis will teach us what globular clusters are, how we think they are made, and all the things we can learn from them, from black hole formation to galaxy evolution.

Most of the matter in the Universe is dark matter: an elusive particle that is completely invisible. But we can “see” this matter by studying how it distorts the light from galaxies in the distant Universe, a phenomenon called gravitational lensing. In this month's KPL astronomy talk, Mike Hudson will give a whirlwind tour of gravitational lensing’s “greatest hits” showing how it can be used as a tool to understand some of the most mysterious things in the Universe: from black holes to the “cosmic web” of dark matter that links galaxies together.

Most of us are taught that the universe began with a giant explosion called the Big Bang. But what if that picture is incomplete—or even wrong? In this month's KPL astronomy talk, Niayesh Afshordi will explore the growing cracks in our standard cosmic origin story and introduce rival ideas that challenge the very notion of a beginning of time.