Seeing the invisible: an astrophysicist's view of the Universe

Tim O’Brien explores how modern astrophysics has extended the range of the human eye allowing us a more complete view of the universe. He traces a journey around the world: from giant optical telescopes in the Andes to global networks of radio observatories and orbiting spacecrafts.

Modern astrophysics relies on seeing the invisible. For thousands of years, humans have looked to the skies and wondered about the Universe. Four hundred years ago we got a clearer view following the invention of the telescope, but all we knew was what we could see with our eyes. In the 1940's, Jodrell Bank helped to pioneer the exploration of the invisible universe using radio waves instead of visible light.

Our horizons were suddenly expanded. The new telescopes discovered previously undreamt of things - quasars, powered by gigantic black holes and shining brightly across billions of light years; pulsars, the spinning collapsed cores of exploded stars flashing like cosmic lighthouses; gravitational lenses, massive objects bending and distorting light itself; the cosmic microwave background, the fading glow of the Big Bang allowing us to see back in time almost 14 billion years to the origin of the Universe itself.

In this discourse, we will trace a journey around the world: from giant optical telescopes in the Andes Mountains to global networks of radio observatories, and farther still to orbiting spacecraft. Taking as an example the study of stellar explosions, we will explore how modern astrophysics has extended the range of the human eye allowing us a more complete view of the Universe.

Register to tell a friend about this lecture.

Comments

If you would like to comment about this lecture, please register here.

©2003-2006 Niminim Limited. Created by

Any ad revenue is entirely reinvested into the Lecture List's operating fund