Galaxies - The Cities of the Universe

Galaxies act as the cities of the Universe, from small "towns" with only a few tens of thousands of stars to massive metropolises boasting billions. What makes up a galaxy? How are these galaxies affected by the environment around them? And most importantly, how is it possible to study objects that are billions of light years away and gain knowledge about their inner workings? We'll take a broad look at galaxies and the universe as a whole, from spirals to ellipticals, from black holes to stars, and from dark matter to dark energy.

Presented by Adam Broussard of the Department of Physics and Astronomy Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Alex has two primary research areas - the first is in studying methods of observing galaxy star formation variability, which gives insight into the physical processes occurring in galaxies to turn star formation on and off. The second concentrates on studying how galaxies are clustered in the Universe, which gives us information about how dark energy as affected the expansion of the Universe since the Big Bang.

This program is part of our Adult Summer Reading Program - A Universe of Stories. It is free and open to all. No registration is required.