Fw: Update on Chautauqua Astronomy Courses - Gravitational Waves

[Tom Crowley]

 

All, Chautauqua courses has added a new course on Gravity Wave detection utilizing Pulsars and LIGO.

 

Tom Crowley

 

From: George Miner

Sent: Thursday, March 3, 2016 2:43 PM

To: George K Miner

Subject: Update on Chautauqua Astronomy Courses - Gravitational Waves

 

Dear Colleague:

 

The recent very significant headline read:

 

"Gravitational waves from the collision of two black holes about 1.3 billion years ago have been detected by Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO, confirming a prediction Albert Einstein made a century ago in his general theory of relativity."

 

The local Chautauqua headline for the Astronomy Update course reads:

 

Dr. Ryan Lynch, National Radio Astronomy Observatory NANOgrav scientist, will give a talk about "using pulsars to detect gravity waves, and the LIGO discovery" at the Chautauqua Astronomy Update course (DAY-27) at Green Bank WV June 6-8, 2016

 

I am writing to you because our records show either that you participated in one or more of the three Chautauqua Astronomy Courses, or otherwise showed an interest in them.  I want you to be among the first to know of this course development.  I am sending the advanced notice in case you would be interested in:

 

-- recommending one or more of the courses to friends or colleagues,

-- taking a course that you have not participated in, or

-- repeating a course that you have completed.

 

This advanced notice gives you and your friends and colleagues an opportunity to make application early before possible closings.  In a week or so I will be sending a large emailing to our total mailing list focussing on these and other courses.  An earlier application would give you an advantage.

 

The courses are:

 

DAY-27  Radio Astronomy Update 2016: Pulsars and Gravitational Radiation, Dark Matter and Galaxy Evolution, June 6-8, 2016 at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank WV.  This course takes place at the home of the Green Bank Telescope (GBT), the world's largest fully steerable single dish radio telescope.  This introductory course includes the basics of radio astronomy, descriptions of the GBT, and discussions of the research work done on the scope.  In this course we offer an update on some of the "hot topics" in astronomy: pulsars, gravitational radiation, dark matter and galaxy evolution.  The presentations are at an introductory level.  The GBT has some 16 million pounds that moves to point to directions in the sky to within seconds of arc quickly.  During the tour of the GBT, participants are often taken to the top of the scope to see the detector room, and to look down into the 2.3 acre dish (subject to schedules and weather).  There is interaction with resident and visiting astronomers.  Participants stay in the astronomer's lodging at a rate of $35 per night and take meals in the site cafeteria.  Participants experience the culture of a national laboratory with no fence or gate, in a community of 400, where people do first class work on a world class scope in relative isolation (the closest regular food store is 65 minutes away).  Participants are given guidance on and make measurements on a forty foot radio telescope during the course.  (One need not be an astronomer to participate.)

 

DAY-28  Astronomy 101 = Stealth Physics: Using Astronomy to Teach Physical Ideas, June 9-11, 2016 at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank WV.  In this course a longtime research astronomer at the University of Hawaii who also taught the introductory astronomy non-majors course for many years gives his take on how to teach the introductory course.  Topics considered include:

 

--Planets:    Gravity, Newton’s Laws, orbits, angular momentum, radioactivity, phases of matter, greenhouse effect, SETI.

--Sun and Stars:    Light, quanta, radiation, energy, temperature, atoms, elements, spectroscopy, nuclear reactions, magnetic fields, black holes.

--Galaxies and Cosmology:    Doppler effect, relativity, dark matter and energy, Big Bang, anthropic principle, multiverse.

 

The general atmosphere and lodging options for this course are the same as for the previous course, DAY-27, which takes place immediately before this one.  Also, a 40 ft. diameter radio telescope will be provided for the use of those taking the course.(One need not be an astronomer to participate.)

   

DAY-6  Exploring the Frontiers of 21th-Century Astrophysics with the VLA and VLBA,  July 13-15, 2016 at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro NM.  This course is a logical follow-on to the Radio Astronomy Update 2015 course above.  It is held at the base of operations of the Very Large Array (VLA), a group of 27 radio telescopes operating in concert to be the world's most productive scope.  In its largest configuration it is some 22 miles in diameter.  During the course visit to the telescope site, participants are usually taken up into one of the scopes for an up-close look at the hardware.  At the Operations Center participants tour the control room of the Very Large Baseline Array (VLBA), a group of ten radio telescopes spread over the country from Hawaii to Puerto Rico, making a five thousand mile diameter scope.  Participants also tour the correlator room where the recordings from the ten scopes are physically brought together and formed into images of the sky.  Lodging at the site is $25 per night in a private room.  We offer optional transportation from and to the Albuquerque Airport.  (One need not be an astronomer to participate.)

 

Each of the above courses has an application fee of $100 and a course fee of $195 (payable after appointment).  Course descriptions are attached.

Detailed course descriptions for these courses and our other courses along with application forms are also available on our web site at:  

http://campus.udayton.edu/~physics/gkm/chau  

[If your browser settings do not allow clicking to access it, please copy and paste, or retype it.]

For the above courses: DAY-27 is nearing quorum; Day-28 has reached quorum; DAY-6 is still four months away and is working on quorum.  For any course I recommend immediate application.  While there is no limit on the number of participants, for the first two courses at Green Bank there is a firm limit with the on site lodging rooms in the astronomer's Residence Hall that have been allocated to us.

I have attached a simple application form which can be emailed back to me.  The $100 application fee can be sent by regular mail to me at the address below via check made out to "Chautauqua Program."  (The application fee is refunded in full if the quorum is not reached.)

   

Some details:  An individual can participate in more than one course.  High school teachers and retired college faculty, as well as fully participating adult companions, are welcome in courses.  In addition, one may repeat a course taken previously.

 

If you plan to request institutional support, we recommend that you request it now, since as time goes by funds tend to be exhausted.

We hope that you will consider these opportunities and others detailed on the web site.  They could provide a real advantage to you and your students.  If you have questions, please email me.  We hope to hear from you!

 

George

 

George K Miner, Ph. D.

Professor Emeritus, Department of Physics, and

Director, Chautauqua Field Center

University of Dayton

300 College Park

Dayton, OH 45469-2314 (Need all 9)

Office direct: 859/344-3060 (email is quicker)

Email: mi...@udayton.edu (Alternate: gmi...@udayton.edu)

Fax: 937/229-2180

URL: http://campus.udayton.edu/~physics/gkm/chau/

[Thomas Ashcraft]

 

"Chautauqua courses has added a new course on Gravity Wave detection utilizing Pulsars and LIGO."

Often, even the most expert physicists interchange gravitational waves with gravity waves but they are different phenomena and it causes confusion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_wave
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_wave

Here is one form of gravity waves:  https://vimeo.com/97550021

-Tom