Hubble Space Telescope Expert to lecture in Belfast

 

IRISH ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION - PRESS RELEASE:

"Adventures with the Hubble Space Telescope" by

Lars Lindberg Christensen of the Space Telescope European Co-ordinating Facility
Larmour Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, QUB, Wednesday 2^nd April, 19:30.

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is one of the most successful scientific projects of all time, both in terms of its scientific output and in terms of its almost iconic public appeal. The HST's enormous impact derives from its ability to exploit a unique scientific niche where no other instruments can really compete at the moment - consistently delivering super-sharp images and very high quality spectrographs of various objects, right out to the edge of the universe.

  The HST also reigns supreme in the elusive infrared and ultraviolet wavebands, not accessible from the Earth's surface. This has opened up new scientific territory and resulted in many paradigm-breaking discoveries. The HST's exquisite image quality has enabled astronomers to gain entirely new insights into the workings of a huge range of different astronomical objects and provided the visual overview of underlying astrophysical processes taking place in planets, stars and galaxies.

    On top of all this astronomers are lucky scientists. Their telescopes do not only produce results of great scientific value, but also of eye-catching beauty and artistic potential. This talk aims to also show how Hubble has built a bridge between science and art.

    This lecture is aimed at both the general public and the professional and amateur astronomical community, and will feature some of the most stunning astronomical photographs ever taken.

  Lars Lindberg Christensen, the chief European Communicator for the HST, is a superb lecturer, and his speciality is making the fantastic discoveries of the HST accessible to everyone. This will be his first lecture in Ireland. See: http://www.eso.org/~lchriste/

   Admission is free, but by ticket only, obtainable from the Irish Astronomical Association: www.irishastro.org