Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Apr 21, 2012 12:21:41 GMT -6
Mapping the Universe from the bottom of the Earth
Lecture with Dr. John E. Carlstrom
20 April 2012
[/b][/center]Lecture with Dr. John E. Carlstrom
20 April 2012
I had the great opportunity to meet and sit in on a lecture with Dr. John Carlstrom, who is mapping the skies with a new radio wave telescope in the Antarctic.
A brief bio....
We are in the middle of a revolution in our understanding of the Universe. We can finally begin to answer questions such as "How old is the Universe? How did it start? What is the Universe made of? Cosmologists at the University of Chicago have been searching for answers to these questions in one of the most forbidding places on Earth: the high Antarctica plateau. Dr John Carlstrom will speak about new measurements being carried out with the 10-m South Pole Telescope to test the inflation theory of the origin of the Universe and to investigate the nature of Dark Energy. The South Pole Telescope studies the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation, the fossil light from the Big Bang, providing a direct view of the Universe as it was 14 billion years ago.
John E. Carlstrom is the Subramanyan Chandrasekhar Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago and the deputy director of the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics. He received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1988. Dr. Carlstrom is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. He has received several awards including a MacArthur Fellowship and is a Adler Planetarium Trustee.
This lecture was to share the findings of the 10 meter South Pole telescope in the bitter minus 45 degree conditions in other than visible light spectral ranges, Microwave Background noise - probing the beginnings of dark matter/energy.....
We were treated to in addition to the slides and movie shorts, a 3-D examination of the telescope....
The details of construction, sensor placement, bearings, thermo management and and other facets of the operation were shared with us.
Some background....
An overview of Big Bang theory and the resulting echo noise remains still detected was presented, and that the objects in the Universe are not moving away from each other - but instead...the fabric of space is stretching...taking along with it all the mass contained...
The telescope discovered a "smooth sphere" of the Universe model...
...with more unexplained empty space - dark matter and energy.
We were taken thru another 3-D ride, forming the galaxy strings...
After the lecture, Dr. Carlstrom invited the guests to examine the arctic clothing that is worn on these expeditions - scientists were red, on-site support crew brown or black. We try on the garments...
The clothing, remarkably, were not bulky and quite flexible. The Boots were hard, with plenty of distance between the ground and the sole of the foot.
Astronomer Jose Salgado from the Adler, well known for his astro-graphical creations, took the 3-D movie shorts on his trip to the arctic base and we chat for a bit...
C.A. Support crew member Maria enjoyed talking with Dr. Carlstrom about the temperature extreme at the base...
Also in attendance to enjoy this lecture were fellow Chicago Astronomers/Adler Telescope crew members: Steve & Margie, Linda & Alfred, Jude & John and Fred.
Also...Chicago Astronomer fans in the audience take a pic with Astro Joe...
