Events › Learn Downtown: Using Gravity to View Black Holes, Stars, and Galaxies

Join Sharon Morsink, Professor of Physics at the University of Alberta, to talk about space!

This session is part of Learn Downtown, a City of Learners speaker series offering bite-size learning opportunities downtown. Complimentary lunch will be provided in support by The Downtown Vibrancy Strategy, and this session will take place in the Civic Employees Fund Room 2 on the main floor of Stanley Milner Library.

Gravity causes light to travel on curved paths leading to a phenomenon called gravitational lensing. This effect allows us to view faraway galaxies, the back sides of neutron stars, and the regions near black holes! In this talk, we will look at recent images of stars and black holes and learn more about what we can learn from these images.

Sharon Morsink is a Professor of Physics at the University of Alberta, where she teaches a wide variety of astrophysics courses and supervises the university's astronomical observatory. She recently served as a consultant on Edmonton Public Library's new interactive Space exhibit on the Wall. Her research focus is neutron stars, which are tiny stars that can spin with frequencies equivalent to the musical range of middle to high C. She is also keenly interested in the intersection of art and science in popular culture, music, theatre, and movies.