caltech | Illuminating the Night Sky: Discoveries from the Zwicky Transient Facility - Shri Kulkarni @caltech | Uploaded 7 months ago | Updated 1 day ago
Every second, a supernova is exploding somewhere in the universe. Astronomers cannot see all of them, but the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), a robotic camera based at Caltech's Palomar Observatory, enables scientists to capture thousands of such explosions every year, shedding new light on the volatile cosmos. In this talk, Shri Kulkarni, ZTF's principal investigator and the George Ellery Hale Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Science, discusses the history and development of ZTF, a public-private partnership aimed at the systematic exploration of the optical night sky. Using an extremely wide-field-of-view camera, ZTF scans the entire Northern sky every two days, discovering objects that erupt or vary in brightness such as supernovae, stars being swallowed by black holes, planets being engulfed by their parent stars, comets, and asteroids.Kulkarni shares some of the phenomena this cutting-edge instrument has revealed in its first years of operation and discusses how machine learning is powering an unprecedented new era of discovery at Palomar.
For more information about Professor Kulkarnis research, visit: https://sites.astro.caltech.edu/~srk
For more information about the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), visit: https://www.ztf.caltech.edu
About the Series:
Since 1922, The Earnest C. Watson Lecture Series has brought Caltech's most innovative scientific research to the public.
The series is named for Earnest C. Watson, a professor of physics at Caltech from 1919 until 1959. Spotlighting a small selection of the pioneering research Caltech's faculty is currently conducting, the Watson Lectures are geared toward a general audience, as part of the Institute's ongoing commitment to benefiting the local community through education and outreach. Through a gift from the estate of Richard C. Biedebach, the lecture series is able to highlight assistant professors' research each season.
View other Watson Lectures: https://bit.ly/Caltech_Watson_Lectures
For more information on the Watson Lecture Series: https://caltech.edu/watson
Produced in association with Caltech Academic Media Technologies.
2024 California Institute of Technology
Every second, a supernova is exploding somewhere in the universe. Astronomers cannot see all of them, but the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), a robotic camera based at Caltech's Palomar Observatory, enables scientists to capture thousands of such explosions every year, shedding new light on the volatile cosmos. In this talk, Shri Kulkarni, ZTF's principal investigator and the George Ellery Hale Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Science, discusses the history and development of ZTF, a public-private partnership aimed at the systematic exploration of the optical night sky. Using an extremely wide-field-of-view camera, ZTF scans the entire Northern sky every two days, discovering objects that erupt or vary in brightness such as supernovae, stars being swallowed by black holes, planets being engulfed by their parent stars, comets, and asteroids.Kulkarni shares some of the phenomena this cutting-edge instrument has revealed in its first years of operation and discusses how machine learning is powering an unprecedented new era of discovery at Palomar.
For more information about Professor Kulkarnis research, visit: https://sites.astro.caltech.edu/~srk
For more information about the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), visit: https://www.ztf.caltech.edu
About the Series:
Since 1922, The Earnest C. Watson Lecture Series has brought Caltech's most innovative scientific research to the public.
The series is named for Earnest C. Watson, a professor of physics at Caltech from 1919 until 1959. Spotlighting a small selection of the pioneering research Caltech's faculty is currently conducting, the Watson Lectures are geared toward a general audience, as part of the Institute's ongoing commitment to benefiting the local community through education and outreach. Through a gift from the estate of Richard C. Biedebach, the lecture series is able to highlight assistant professors' research each season.
View other Watson Lectures: https://bit.ly/Caltech_Watson_Lectures
For more information on the Watson Lecture Series: https://caltech.edu/watson
Produced in association with Caltech Academic Media Technologies.
2024 California Institute of Technology
