A Universe of Data: How we get Science out of Space Telescopes
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National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC
Free, Tickets Required
4:00-5:00 pm Discovery Station
5:15-6:45 pm Lecture and Q&A
6:30-8:30 pm Observatory Open
This century has seen stunning cosmic discoveries. New telescopes on Earth and in space and a new, more collaborative way of studying science using public data archives and software packages have made these discoveries possible. The digital age has given everyone free access to space data; the trick is to turn that data into quantitative science and pictures that tell a story. Images from the Chandra Space Telescope will help explain how astronomers study space in the computer age.
Smithsonian's Stars lectures are suitable for ages 13 and up.
The Smithsonian's Stars Lecture Series is made possible by a grant from NASA.
The Pinwheel M101 is a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way, though nearly its twice.
The composite of M101 shown above shows four different, combined views of the galaxy obtained by four NASA space observatories, covering all these different phenomena: an infrared observation by the Spitzer Space Telescope (red), a sharp-eyed optical image by the Hubble Space Telescope, an ultraviolet image by GALEX, and a sharp X-ray image by the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
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