Essential Information
| Type | Talks and tours |
|---|---|
| Location |
Online
|
| Date and Times | Friday 15 March 2024 | 6-7pm |
| Prices | Free |
Imagine a gravitational titan so powerful that not even light can escape its clutches. These are black holes: gravitational singularities lurking in the depths of space.
Now imagine such singularities millions to billions of times the mass of our Sun! These are supermassive black holes (SMBH) at the centres of galaxies that create discs of accretion from all the matter around them.
They are astronomical powerhouses, sometimes even spewing jets of matter and energy across vast distances, extending far beyond the galaxy itself. Some SMBH – quasars – outshine even entire galaxies, and their light is like a cosmic window into the past: it allows us to piece together the history of the universe and understand how galaxies formed.
Join Dr. Maitrayee Gupta and the Royal Observatory Greenwich for a free lecture about the latest research into supermassive black holes, part of British Science Week 2024.
About the speaker
Dr. Maitrayee Gupta is an astrophysicist whose research focuses on multiwavelength studies of Active Galactic Nuclei with a primary emphasis on X-rays. Her work includes studying jet formation as well as analyzing data from various X-ray telescopes like Chandra and XMM-Newton. She was most recently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Research in Astrophysics and Planetology (IRAP) in Toulouse, France. She completed her PhD under the supervision of Prof. Marek Sikora at the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center and also completed a fellowship at the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. She maintains a strong passion for scientific outreach and promoting women in science.
How to join
This lecture will take place online via Zoom, running from 6-7pm on Friday 15 March. Follow this link to register and gain access.
The talk is part of Think Space Lectures, a special series of events hosted by the Royal Observatory and featuring astrophysicists talking about the latest research in the fields of astronomy, physics, planetary geology and space exploration.
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About British Science Week
British Science Week is a ten-day celebration held every year in March, with thousands of events running throughout the UK celebrating science, engineering, technology and maths.
The theme for 2024 is 'Time'. From the mysteries of time travel to caring for historic clocks, Greenwich is the perfect place to explore the science and significance of time. The Royal Observatory Greenwich is proud to partner with the British Science Association to celebrate 30 years of British Science Week.
Find more events taking place around the UK and download free activity packs on the British Science Week website.
What’s On
Find more British Science Week events.
