You’re invited to this free public science talk on Saturday: Dr. Knop Talks Astronomy

Title: Time Dilation and Simultaneity in Special Relativity

Date: Saturday, May 30, 2009

Time: 10:00 AM Pacific Time (SL Time)

Location: The large amphitheater on the sim named StellaNova - SLURL

Abstract: Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity is one of the bedrocks of modern science. It’s an extremely well-tested theory that underlies much of our understanding of the Universe. Yet, it remains a difficult to understand mystery to many people. In this talk, I’ll show how the basic assumptions of Einstein’s theory lead to the conclusion that moving clocks run slow, and that whether or not two events happen at the same time depend on how you are moving relative to them. All of this may be understood without any recourse to mathematics. As a bonus, I will show how with only an understanding of early high-school level algebra, you can actually derive the formula for how slow moving clocks run given the basic tenets of Special Relativity.

This science talk is intended for the general public. All are welcome. It’s part of a series of popular talks called Dr. Knop Talks Astronomy. Dr. Knop was on one of the teams that discovered the accelerating expansion of the universe. Feel free to ask questions or make comments.

Produced in association with the Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics (MICA). For more information, see http://mica-vw.org/

The next edition of Dr. Knop Talks Astronomy is this coming Satuday! Here are the details:

Title: The Most Distant Explosion: Gamma Ray Burst 090423

“Artist’s illustration of a bright gamma-ray burst”

Date: Saturday, May 16, 2009

Time: 10:00 AM Pacific Time (SL Time)

Location: The large amphitheater on the sim named StellaNova SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/StellaNova/213/210/32/

Abstract: On April 23, 2009, the Swift gamma ray satellite detected light from an explosion that was measured to have a redshift of 8.2—making it the most distant individual object we’ve observed, and evidence for the earliest star we know of that formed after the Big Bang. In this talk, I’ll describe what gamma ray bursters are, and how it is that we can measure how far away they are. I’ll also talk about the significance of this discovery when it comes to understanding the formation of the first stars and galaxies in our Universe.

This science talk is intended for the general public. All are welcome. It’s part of a series of popular talks called Dr. Knop Talks Astronomy. Dr. Knop was on one of the teams that discovered the accelerating expansion of the universe. Feel free to ask questions or make comments. Produced in association with the Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics (MICA).

For more information, see http://mica-vw.org/

Link on the Official SL Events calendar: https://secure-web15.secondlife.com/events/event.php?id=2697156&date=1242457200

You’re invited to the next edition of Dr. Knop Talks Astronomy, in which Dr. Knop will explain how we know that dark matter exists.

Date: Saturday, May 2, 2009

Time: 10:00 AM Pacific Time (SL Time)

Location: The large amphitheater on the sim named StellaNova SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/StellaNova/213/210/32/

Abstract: Modern cosmology tells us that the majority of the Universe is made up of stuff whose nature is largely unknown to us. Two thirds of it is Dark Energy; most of the rest is Dark Matter, the subject of this talk. Dark Matter interacts with normal matter through gravity, but otherwise it interacts hardly at all. Yet, we have very high confidence that this mysterious Dark Matter really does exist. Because it doesn’t interact with light, we haven’t seen it glowing, nor have we observed it absorbing background light as we’ve seen with dust clouds. All of the evidence we have for Dark Matter comes from its gravitational interaction with other matter, and with light. Yet, this evidence is extremely compelling. In this talk, I will attempt to convince you that there is no reasonable doubt that Dark Matter exists.

This science talk is intended for the general public. All are welcome. It’s part of a series of popular talks called Dr. Knop Talks Astronomy. Dr. Knop was on one of the teams that discovered the accelerating expansion of the universe. Feel free to ask questions or make comments. Produced in association with the Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics (MICA).

For more information, see http://mica-vw.org/

Link on the Official SL Events calendar: https://secure-web7.secondlife.com/events/event.php?id=2643613&date=1241247600

This coming Friday and Saturday, MICA, the Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics, will be hosting events for the grand opening of their new sim, StellaNova.

Check out the MICA website for all the details!

A scene in the new MICA sim, StellaNova

All times are Pacific Time.
Friday, Jan. 30: Day One of the Grand Opening of the new MICA sim (StellaNova) . 1:30 - 1:45 pm: Opening remarks, MICA building dedication [MICA building]. SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/StellaNova/24/108/32 . 1:45 - 2:00 pm: Explore around StellaNova. SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/StellaNova/129/129/32 . 2:00 - 3:00 pm: Open discussion: Science in Virtual Worlds [Small amphitheater]. SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/StellaNova/76/200/32 . 3:00 - 3:30 pm: New initiatives in OpenSim N-body work [MICA seminar room]. SLURL: <a href=”http://slurl.com/secondlife/StellaNova/27/114/21“>http://slurl.com/secondlife/StellaNova/27/114/21

StellaNova beach house and eagle - Image by Korii Tiger

Saturday, Jan. 31: Day Two of the Grand Opening of the new MICA sim (StellaNova) . 10:00 - 11:00 am: Inaugural Popular Lecture - Dr. Knop Talks Astronomy - “Colliding Galaxies in a Virtual Universe” [Large amphitheater]. SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/StellaNova/206/211/32 . 11:00 - 12 noon: Informal discussion: Astronomy and SL [MICA Clubhouse]. SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/StellaNova/127/43/22 . Please join us in celebrating and learning! The inworld SL group is the open-membership MICA - VW Astrophysics. Feel free to join and keep up with future events. Check out our wiki at http://mica-vw.org for events and slides/records of past talks to learn more! See you at the opening of StellaNova!

This coming Saturday, December 20, Dr. Knop will give a talk titled “Nature’s Telescope, Nature’s Scale: Gravitational Lensing”. Here are the details of the event:

Date: Saturday, December 20, 2008

Time: 10:00 AM Pacific Time (SL Time)

Abstract: The presence of mass creates gravity. If something else is flying by a massive object, its gravity will bend the path of that object. This is why planets orbit the Sun; their path is continually bent around the Sun into a circle. It turns out that even the path of light is bent as it goes near a massive object; this effect is known as gravitational lensing. We can see examples in astronomy where background galaxies are magnified, distoried, and even given multiple images by the gravitational lensing of intervening galaxies. Even very mild gravitational lensing can be used to measure the mass of the intervening galaxies. Finally, gravitational lensing has been used to determine that the dark matter in our galaxy cannot be made up entirely of small massive objects, such as very dim stars or brown dwarfs.

This science talk is intended for the general public. All are welcome. Feel free to ask questions or make comments. In the Galaxy Dome floating above the sim named ‘Spaceport Bravo’ SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Spaceport%20Bravo/117/66/278 This talk is part of a series of popular talks called Dr. Knop Talks Astronomy. Dr. Knop was on one of the teams that discovered the accelerating expansion of the universe. Produced in association with the Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics (MICA).

For more information, see http://mica-vw.org/

Link on the Official SL Events calendar: https://secure-web3.secondlife.com/events/event.php?id=2169864&date=1229760000