Cultural Heritage Experiences through Socio-personal interactions and Storytelling

Seminar Date:
July 2nd at 2-3pm (note the different time!)

Speaker:
Dr. Maria Roussou
Virtual Reality Designer and Researcher

Title:
The CHESS Project [Cultural Heritage Experiences through Socio-personal interactions and Storytelling]

Abstract:
Cultural heritage institutions nowadays face the important challenge of making their collections more engaging to visitors, especially the young ‘digital natives’, while exploiting, in new forms of cultural interactive experiences, the recently developed digital libraries. An approach for cultural heritage institutions (e.g. museums) would be to capitalize on the pervasive use of interactive digital content and systems in order to offer experiences that connect to their visitors’ interests, needs, dreams, familiar faces or places; in other words, to the personal narratives they carry with them and, implicitly or explicitly, build when visiting a cultural site.

Investigations of Lava Flows on Earth and Mars

Seminar Date:
July 24, 2013

Speaker:
Dr. David Crown
Senior Scientist,
Planetary Science Institute

Title:
The Geologic Histories of Mars, Venus, and Io

Abstract:
The Tharsis volcanic province on Mars contains vast lava plains surrounding the largest shield volcanoes in the solar system. Current research examines the styles and sequences of volcanism in southern Tharsis using imaging, topographic, and compositional datasets acquired by recent spacecraft missions. This work combines traditional geologic mapping with detailed flow field mapping to document observations important for interpreting volcanic processes and geologic history. The morphology of lava flow lobes reveals the nature of flow emplacement processes and is used to assess flow field development and stratigraphy. Populations of small, superposed impact craters are used to derive relative and absolute age constraints for individual flows and flow sequences.

Accurate interpretations of volcanic processes on other planets are dependent upon field and remote sensing analyses of terrestrial analogues. New capabilities for field analyses of active lava flow emplacement are being utilized to qualitatively and quantitatively characterize lava flows in order to directly link surface morphology to observed emplacement processes, providing a robust foundation for interpretations of planetary volcanic features. A combination of ground-based scanning LiDAR, thermal imaging, and high-definition video and time-lapse photography provide rapid acquisition of high-resolution spatial and high-precision thermal datasets for advancing tube-fed pahoehoe flows in Hawaii. High-definition video and time-lapse photography document the nature and changes in flow behavior and are used for interpretation and analysis of thermal and topographic data. The thermal data show the distribution of lava surface temperatures and are used to identify new lava breakouts and to define and chart the evolution of discrete lava units. Repeat LiDAR scans at regular intervals during flow emplacement are used to document morphometric characteristics of individual flow elements and compound lobes, directly link quantitative morphometric measurements to flow characteristics such as flow morphology and temperature, and calculate flow volumes and advance rates.

Greek Letter Stars at Milli-arcsecond Resolution

Seminar Date:
June 26, 2013

Speaker:
Dr. Bob Zavala
Astronomer,
U.S. Naval Observatory, 
Flagstaff Station

Title:
Greek Letter Stars at Milli-arcsecond Resolution

Abstract:
The brilliant colors of the double star Albireo are often shown to students in introductory astronomy courses. The color differences elicit a "Wow" from the viewer, and this is usually followed by an explanation of colors and temperatures of stars. I'll attempt to re-create some of the "Wow" feeling as I present results of bright Greek letter stars (and one without a Greek letter) resolved on milli-arcsecond scales. Most observations were obtained with the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer (NPOI), a 6-element optical interferometer located in Flagstaff, AZ.

The NPOI resolves close stellar systems and our visual orbits are often combined with other datasets to provide a fairly detailed picture of the components. I'll show results on systems such as a massive O star binary, evolved mass-transferring systems and radio stars. I'll also present radio VLBI observations on similar spatial scales and show how they complement the astrophysical understanding of the sources. I will also discuss how our narrow-angle astrometry supports the Naval Observatory's bright star catalogs.

Star Formation and Jet Interactions near Sgr A*

Seminar Date:
May 13th, 2013

Speaker:
Dr. Farhad Yusef-Zadeh
Faculty
Northwestern University

Title:
Star Formation and Jet Interactions near Sgr A*

Abstract:
There are several sources of interest in the unique region of the Galaxy surrounding Sgr A*. I will focus on two topics related to the supermassive black hole Sgr A* which lies at the dynamical center of the Galaxy. One relates to a three earth mass gas cloud called G2 which is on a collision course with Sgr~A*. We consider the possibility that the gas cloud G2 approaching Sgr A* may encounter a relativistic jet-driven outflow. We present the light curves of Sgr A* at X-ray and radio wavelengths during which G2/Sgr A* interact with each other. I will argue that the origin of how young stellar disks are formed in the context of the passage of a giant molecular cloud interacting with Sgr A*. I will also present ALMA measurements supporting on-going star formation near Sgr A*.

Kepler: Behind Every Planet is a Star

Seminar Date:
March 22nd, 2013

Speaker:
Dr. Lucianne Walkowicz
Henry Russell Norris Fellow
Princeton University

Title:
Kepler: Behind every planet is a star.

NASA: Science with Hubble, JWST, and other NASA Astrophysics Missions

Seminar Date:
February 25th, 2013

Speaker:
Dr. Amber Straughn
Astronomer & EPO Specialist
NASA Goddard

Title:
NASA: Science with Hubble, JWST, and other NASA Astrophysics Missions

Abstract:
In 2009, the complete refurbishment of Hubble gave new life to the telescope, equipping it with powerful new instruments and capabilities. Dr. Straughn will discuss some of the recent highlights from the Wide Field Camera 3 ranging from star formation in nearby galaxies to the most distant galaxy candidates discovered. Hubble has proven to be an outstanding success not only in astronomers' eyes, but also in the public, setting the stage for exciting E/PO and Communications programs in all of NASA's Astrophysics missions. Straughn will outline some of the ongoing and future work NASA is doing with JWST and also within the Astrophysics Science Division at Goddard.