Black holes, Einstein's gravity and rocket science!

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• Professor Chris Done, Durham University
• Tuesday 26 October 2021, 19:30-20:45
• Pfizer Lecture Theatre, Department of Chemistry.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Xuchen Wang.

Black holes are black, and space, your basic space colour is black. So how are we meant to see them? It’s much easier when nearby matter is captured, releasing enormous amounts of energy as it spirals down into the immense gravity well. This comes out as intense X-ray radiation, turning the darkest objects in the Universe into the brightest – like the last scream before the material disappears forever below the event horizon. But X-rays do not penetrate through our atmosphere, so it required rocket science to detect this emission! I will describe how we can use these X-rays detected from space based instruments to explore Einstein’s gravity in the strong field limit.

This talk is part of the Cambridge University Astronomical Society (CUAS) series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• Cambridge University Astronomical Society (CUAS)
• Chris Davis' list
• Cosmology, Astrophysics and General Relativity
• Guy Emerson's list
• Pfizer Lecture Theatre, Department of Chemistry

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