Looking for the Invisible with Victoria Grinberg

In this talk, Victoria will discuss the groundbreaking approaches that are allow her to observe some of the most mysterious objects in our universe such as neutron stars and black holes.

As the remnants of dead stars and the engines at the centres of whole galaxies, these things are key to our understanding of the universe.

But on cosmic scale they’re tiny and they absorb light which makes them impossible to see through an optical telescope. So how can astrophysicists observe something that is, on the first glance, invisible?

Dr. Victoria Grinberg is an astrophysicist at ESA, the European Space Agency in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. After her PhD in Germany, she spent three years at MIT in Cambridge, USA before obtaining the ESA research fellowship and coming back to Europe. In her work, she uses data from space based observatories to understand some of the most extreme objects in our universe - neutron stars, black holes and the most massive giant stars. As a member of the Erlangen Center for Literature and Natural science, she is especially interested in the intersection of (astro)physics and language.

Pop-up Astronomy Club with Paul Hill

Astronomer Paul Hill will open up a world of celestial objects from Second Home’s roof terrace.

Through three different telescopes, Paul will take you on a guided tour of the heavens, explaining our mythical and historical understandings of the different constellations.

Paul is an elected fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, co-presenter and writer of the popular Awesome Astronomy podcast.

This will be a fantastic opportunity to ask an astronomer any burning questions you might have about space.

Paul is an elected fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, co-presenter and writer of the popular Awesome Astronomy podcast, committee member of the world famous Baker Street Irregular Astronomers and has appeared on BBC News and Radio to discuss a range of astronomy and space issues as well as being interviewed on The BBC’s flagship astronomy program, The Sky At Night. He is also part of the team that runs the bi-annual, family friendly AstroCamp in the Brecon Beacons.