Jan 14th, 2014 – Cafe Scientifique – “Black Holes – More than Meets the Eye” – Dr. Laura Ferrarese

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Cafe Scientifique Jan 14th, 2014 – Black Holes – More than Meets the Eye Speaker: Laura Ferrarese – Herzberg Institute and University of Victoria, Faculty of Science.
Time: 6:30PM-8PM
Place: Hermann’s Jazz Club.
(Free) Tickets Required (SOLD OUT, but waitlist available)

An artist's drawing a black hole named Cygnus X-1
An artist’s drawing a black hole named Cygnus X-1. It formed when a large star caved in. Image Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss

Of all the legacies of Einsteinʼs general theory of relativity, none is more fascinating than black holes — space-time singularities, whose gravitational fields are strong enough to distort space, alter the flow of time, and even prevent light from escaping. By the mid 1990s, the existence of black holes was proven beyond any reasonable doubt, and on a scale far larger than anyone had anticipated. This talk will discuss how astronomer have come to believe that black holes with masses million to billion times the mass of the Sun lurk at the centers of galaxies. More surprisingly still, I will discuss how these black holes might play a much more important role in the evolution of galaxies than anyone had anticipated.

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