Public Talks
Unveiling the Universe’s Darkest Secrets
As the UK’s astronomers gather in Cardiff, join us to hear from two UK experts on the Universe’s darkest secrets: black holes, dark matter and dark energy.
On Monday 3rd July, from 6:30-8pm, at the Cardiff University Centre for Student Life (CSL).
Please note: This event is aimed at the general public and astrophysicists alike. It is a free, but ticketed event. Recommended Ages: 14+
Click here to book tickets!
“How to grow a supermassive black hole"
Dr Becky Smethurst (University of Oxford)
When we think of black holes, we often think of them as endless hoovers, sucking up anything around them. In reality though, it’s very difficult to grow a black hole; to get matter close enough to that point of no return. Instead, most matter will happily orbit a black hole. Just like the Earth orbits the Sun, the Sun orbits a supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way over 4 million times more massive than the Sun itself. So if it’s difficult to grow a black hole, how in the Universe did supermassive black holes like this get so big?
“A Tale of Two Telescopes: JWST and Euclid”
Dr Stephen Wilkins (University of Sussex)
The culmination of decades of effort by scientists and engineers across the world, JWST launched on Christmas Day 2021 and commenced scientific observations a little less than a year ago. In this time JWST’s exquisite sensitivity, resolution, and wavelength coverage has enabled astronomers to explore our Universe as never before. We’ve now peered through clouds of gas and dust to observe stars and planets forming, analysed the atmospheres of alien planets, and discovered galaxies present when the Universe was only a tiny fraction of its age.
This year JWST will be joined by ESA’s Euclid satellite. While smaller, and thus less sensitive, Euclid has a much larger field-of-view ultimately allowing it to survey around 1/3 of the entire sky with the same quality imaging as the Hubble Space Telescope. Euclid’s capabilities will allow it to map out structures across the Universe allowing us to better understand the mysterious dark matter and dark energy.
