Free Astronomy Lecture: 'Spacetime Symphony: Gravitational Waves from Merging Black Holes'

LOS ALTOS HILLS, CA – News from Foothill College:

As part of the 17th annual Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series, Lynn Cominsky, Ph.D., of Sonoma State University, will discuss Spacetime Symphony: Gravitational Waves from Merging Black Holes, an illustrated, non-technical lecture Wednesday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m. in the Smithwick Theatre at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills.

Admission is free and the public is invited. Seating is first come, first served; arrive early to locate parking.

One hundred years ago, Albert Einstein published his General Theory of Relativity, which predicts the kinds of changes in the universe that produce gravitational waves–which travel at the speed of light, but are much harder to detect than light waves. On September 14, 2015, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) received the first confirmed gravitational wave signals. The event that produced them was the merger of two distant and massive black holes that were in mutual orbit. A second confirmed detection (two different black holes getting together) occurred on December 26, 2015. LIGO's exciting discoveries provide direct proof of predictions made by Einstein and have launched the new field of astronomy. Dr. Cominsky will present an introduction to LIGO, to gravitational waves and how they were detected, and to black holes.

Cominsky is the chairwoman of the Sonoma State University (SSU) Physics & Astronomy Department, where she has been on the faculty for more than 30 years. She is the founder and director of SSU's Education & Public Outreach Group, which develops educational materials for NASA, NSF and the U.S. Department of Education. Her research focused on black holes, the X-ray universe, and high-energy astronomy.

More recently, she has been a leader in developing exciting educational materials to help inspire students to pursue scientific careers, training teachers nationwide, and enhancing scientific literacy for the general public. Among her awards are the Wang Family Excellence Award for the California State University system and the Astronomy Education Award of the American Astronomical Society.

The free lecture series is sponsored by the Foothill College Astronomy Program, NASA Ames Research Center, SETI Institute and Astronomical Society of the Pacific. A number of past Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures are now available free via YouTube on the series' own channel at www.youtube.com/user/SVAstronomyLectures/.

Parking lots 1, 7 and 8 provide stair and no-stair access to the theatre. Visitors must purchase a parking permit for $3 from dispensers in student parking lots. Dispensers accept one-dollar bills and credit/debit cards. Foothill College is located off I-280 on El Monte Road in Los Altos Hills. For more information, visit foothill.edu or call (650) 949-7888.

Also coming up in the region:

• Exhibit Opening: Filoli Celebrates 100 Years
• Bureau of Suspended Objects Behind the Scenes Lecture
• Holocaust & Heroes: An Evening With Speaker and Author Marty Brounstein
• "Good Morning Palo Alto" Breakfast Featuring Experts on Cyber Security

--Image courtesy of Foothill College