Science Briefing: Learning about the Universe through Patterns in Light
In this edition of NASA’s Universe of Learning Science Briefings, we will discuss an important tool used by astronomers – spectroscopy – which spreads out light into its component wavelengths like a rainbow, allowing us to see the patterns in brightness caused by atoms and molecules to learn about objects in space.
Dr. Julia Roman-Duval will provide a brief introduction to the concept and tools of spectroscopy, and present an exciting application of ultraviolet spectroscopy that is used to study the properties of young stars with the ULLYSES program, the largest ever executed with the Hubble Space Telescope.
Dr. J.D. Smith will discuss how his group uses information encoded into wavelengths of light longer than the eye can see to understand how dusty galaxies make new stars, build supermassive black holes, and enrich the cosmos with heavy elements.
Dr. Jeremy Drake will describe how the physics of the energetic universe can be revealed through spectroscopy at X-ray wavelengths.
Contact Information
ABOUT THE SERIES
The NASA’s Universe of Learning Science Briefings are professional learning telecons for the informal science education community, done in partnership with the NASA’s Museum & Informal Education Alliance, now found on NASA CONNECTS. These monthly thematic briefings highlight current NASA astrophysics explorations and discoveries from across the suite of NASA astrophysics missions. NASA scientists and engineers provide contemporary science results, and are able to respond to listener questions during the telecon. NASA-developed education and outreach resources, matched to the monthly theme, are included in every briefing.
In order to participate in the telecon and ask questions of the scientists, please join NASA’s Museum & Informal Education Alliance.
FACILITATOR & PRESENTERS
Dr. Kelly Lepo is an Education and Outreach Scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute, where she primarily works to support outreach efforts for the James Webb Space Telescope. She received a PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics from the University of Toronto. During her time in Canada, she made numerous local and national media appearances to talk about everything from the 2012 Mayan Apocalypse to the Super Blue Blood Moon. She prevously served as the Coordinator of the McGill Space Institute, designed undergraduate teaching labs, taught physics at Gonzaga University, and helped build the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.
Dr. Julia Roman-Duval is an Astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute. There, she leads the implementation of the ULLYSES program, a 1,000 orbit Director’s Discretionary program to build a spectroscopic legacy library of young low- and high-mass stars in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies. She is also part of the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph team at STScI, one of the two ultraviolet spectrographs onboard Hubble, where she works on calibration, user support, and pipeline projects. Her research focuses on understanding the build up of heavy elements and interstellar dust in nearby galaxies.
Dr. J.D. Smith is the director of the Ritter Astrophysical Research Center at the University of Toledo. He received his undergraduate degree in Physics at MIT, and his PhD at Cornell University. He is an avid student of long wavelength spectroscopy as a tool for uncovering the mysteries of galaxies, and how they form and evolve. He and his group are looking forward to a number of James Webb Space Telescope galaxy observations in the coming year.
Dr. Jeremy Drake is an astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He studies the high-energy aspects of stellar physics, and how they impact star and planet formation, stellar evolution, and planetary radiation environments.