Astrophysics Science Division Colloquium Series
Schedule: Spring 2009

ASD Colloquia are Tuesdays at 3:45 pm (Meet the Speaker at 3:30 pm)
in Bldg 21, Room 183 unless otherwise noted.

January
Jan 27	Mark Devlin (University of Pennsylvania) - Where Did Half the Starlight in the Universe Go?
February
Feb 2	C. Robert O'Dell (Vanderbilt University) Host: Gull
Feb 10
Feb 17	PRESIDENT'S DAY BREAK
Feb 24	Zoltan Haiman (Columbia) Building 2 Room 8
March
Mar 3	Wes Traub (JPL) - Recent Results Relevant to Future Exoplanet Missions Host: Kuchner
Mar 10
Mar 17	Jack Burns (University of Colorado) - Astrophysics From The Moon Host: Merkowitz
Mar 24	Eugene Chiang (Berkeley)
Mar 31
April
Apr 7
Apr 14	Tiziana Di Matteo (Carnegie Mellon University)
Apr 21
Apr 28
May
May 5	Elena Aprile (Columbia University)
May 12	Victoria Kaspi (McGill University)
May 19	Peter Michelson (Stanford)
May 26

Where Did Half the Starlight in the Universe Go? Mark Devlin University of Pennsylvania Tuesday, January 27, 2009 Abstract We believe that approximately half of all the light from stars is absorbed and reprocessed by dust. The resulting emission is grey body with a temperature near 30 Kelvin. The COBE satellite made the first measurements of the resulting Far Infrared Background (FIRB), but since that time, we have been unable to resolve the background into individual galaxies. The Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST) was designed to address this and a host of other issues. Its three bands at 250, 350, and 500 microns span the peak in emission for galaxies at z=1. I will discuss the BLAST experiment and present results from our measurements of resolved and unresolved galaxies. For more information see: http://blastexperiment.info and http://blastthemovie.com.

Astrophysics From The Moon Jack Burns University of Colorado Tuesday, March 17, 2009 Abstract NASA's National Space Exploration Policy calls for a return to the Moon by 2020. Unlike Apollo, the new lunar exploration initiative is to include a robust program of science of, to, and from the Moon. Astrophysics from the Moon has particular potential. The Moon is a unique platform for fundamental astrophysical measurements of gravitation, the Sun, and the Universe. Lunar laser ranging of the Earth-Moon distance provides extremely high precision constraints on General Relativity (GR) and alternative models of gravity. Current alternate theories for gravity, including those that explain dark matter and dark energy, predict deviations from GR at a level that is potentially within the grasp of the next generation of lunar laser retroreflectors. Lacking a permanent ionosphere and, on the lunar farside, shielded from terrestrial radio emissions, a low frequency (<100 MHz) radio telescope on the Moon will be an unparalleled heliospheric and astrophysical observatory. Crucial stages in particle acceleration near the Sun can be imaged and tracked. The evolution of the Universe during and before the formation of the first stars (termed the "Dark Ages") can be traced for the first time, yielding high precision cosmology constraints. I will describe both the science and the technology of these new astrophysical observatories for the lunar surface.