In 1969, Vera Rubin and Kent Ford used a spectrometer attached to the Perkins Telescope in Arizona, which at the time was jointly owned by Ohio Wesleyan and Ohio State, to study the orbital motion of hydrogen gas clouds in the Andromeda Galaxy. They discovered that the galaxy was spinning so fast that it would fly apart if its gravity were due only to its visible stars, gas, and dust. Subsequent studies showed that all large galaxies don’t have enough visible matter to hold themselves together, which is interpreted to mean that there must be large amounts of unseen “dark matter” to provide the necessary gravity. The current estimate is that the universe contains over five times as much dark matter than the baryonic matter of which stars, planets, and people are made. In her talk, Dr. Hall, who is a candidate for the assistant professor position in Physics and Astronomy, will describe her research that seeks to discover new fundamental particles that could account for dark matter.
Registering in advance is required for this Zoom meeting:
https://owu-edu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0lc-6qpzgiHdFtWX8VxX1UusbHNVEq0DV1
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. The link is unique to you, so please don’t share it. Share the registration link instead.
OWU Sponsoring Organization/Office: Department of Physics and Astronomy
Contact: Robert Harmon at roharmon@owu.edu