To infinity and beyond: space, stars & the universe

All systems go for 2009 installment of astro-themed Mini-Science public lecture series

In celebration of 400 years of astronomy, McGill University’s Faculty of Science will launch its third edition of the wildly popular Mini-Science public lecture series on April 1. The United Nations has proclaimed 2009 the International Year of Astronomy in commemoration of the first astronomical use of the telescope in 1609 – hence this year’s focus on cosmology and space exploration. The seven-lecture lineup includes some of the University’s top professors – and, for the first time, a Canadian astronaut – who will offer mini-courses on the latest in space exploration.

The Mini-Science series will run every Wednesday until May 13. Here is this year’s speaker schedule:

Neutron Stars: Lighthouses of the Cosmos (Apr. 1)
Prof. Victoria M. Kaspi, Dept. of Physics
A renowned astrophysicist, Prof. Kaspi sheds light on cosmic mysteries and has built an academic program from scratch. Her research is in astrophysics – specifically on an exotic type of star called a pulsar. Along with her research team, she uses “the world's largest telescopes, both ground- and space-based, to study these amazing objects.”

An Astronomer's Window on the Birth of the Universe (Apr. 8)
Prof. Matt Dobbs, Dept. of Physics
Prof. Dobbs’s research aims to improve our understanding of the fundamental constituents of the universe – including its origin, history, and fate – as well as to provide new insight into the early universe, where the laws of particle physics and cosmology intersect. His research group at McGill is building novel instrumentation and experiments to explore the early universe with wavelength observations of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation.

Island Universes: The Nature and Origin of Galaxies (Apr. 15)
Prof. Tracy Webb, Dept. of Physics
Prof. Webb’s research centres on the growth of structure in the universe, and galaxies in particular. She uses data at many different wavelengths of light; each wavelength probes a different physical process and tells us something unique about galaxy formation. Prof. Webb studies mainly galaxies in the very distant and young universe (i.e., high-redshift); because of the finite speed of light we are seeing these systems as they existed 5-12 billion years ago and can literally watch them form. However, she is also beginning programs to study nearby galaxies, since these systems can be studied in much more detail and will provide insight into the processes that formed the galaxies of today.

In Search of New Worlds: The Discovery and Characterization of Exoplanets (Apr. 22)
Prof. Andrew Cumming, Dept. of Physics
Prof. Cumming studies the physics of compact objects and extrasolar planets. He received his PhD in Physics from the University of California, Berkeley, in December 2000, where he worked with Lars Bildsten. He then spent a year as a postdoc at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) in Santa Barbara, before moving to the University of California, Santa Cruz as a Hubble Fellow. Prof. Cumming joined the McGill Department of Physics in September 2004. He has been a Scholar of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Cosmology and Gravity program since 2004, and was awarded an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship in 2006.

...in a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Measuring the Size of the Universe (Apr. 29)
Prof. Bob Rutledge, Dept. of Physics
Prof. Rutledge was on a team of McGill University and Penn State University astronomers that discovered what is possibly the closest neutron star using NASA's Swift satellite. If confirmed, it would also be only the eighth so-called isolated neutron star ever discovered. He works primarily in observational high-energy astrophysics, studying the behaviour of neutron stars and black holes.

Up or Down – The Body's Plasticity in Exploring Inner and Outer Space (May 6)
Dr. Dave Williams, McGill alumni, retired Canadian Space Agency astronaut, Director McMaster Centre for Medical Robotics
Dr. Dave Williams is the only Canadian to have lived and worked both in space and in the ocean. In 1992, he was selected by the Canadian Space Agency to train as an astronaut; and in 2001 he became an aquanaut through his participation in the joint NASA-NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) NEEMO 1 mission. His first trip into space was aboard the Columbia space shuttle in 1998. In 2006, he was the crew commander of NEEMO 9 on a mission dedicated to assess new ways to deliver medical care to a remote location, as would be done during a long space flight. In 2007, he served as a NASA mission specialist on STS-118 on the space shuttle Endeavour where he took part in three of four spacewalks, the most spacewalks performed in a single mission.

Exploring Mars on Earth: The Arctic as an Analogue for Mars (May 13)
Prof. Wayne Pollard, Dept. of Geography
Prof. Pollard’s primary research activities concern the investigation of the nature and origin of massive ground ice in the Canadian High Arctic and in the McMurdo Dry Valleys region of Antarctica, its role in landscape evolution and an assessment of its response to global warming. An area of Prof. Pollard's research examines polar environments as planetary analogues. Through collaborations with NASA and CSA an important part of this research is the application of various permafrost and hydrologic systems as analogues for similar systems on Mars and the moons of Saturn and Jupiter.

Registration is now open and is on a first-come, first served basis.
For more information, please visit: www.mcgill.ca/science/mini/