Sep. 2

"Hot Chromospheres and Flares on Cool and Ultracool Dwarfs"

abstract

Sarah Jane Schmidt

Ohio State University

host: Adam Kraus

Sep. 9

"Let it Collide: An Epic Saga of Star Wars Planets, Planetesimals, and Super Planet Crashes"

abstract

Stefano Meschiari

University of Texas at Austin

host: Adam Kraus

Sep. 16

"The Complex Interplay between Star Formation and Galaxy Evolution from z~0-6"

abstract

Desika Narayanan

Haverford College

host: Steve Finkelstein

Sep. 23

"Compact Galaxies and Super-Massive Black Holes"

abstract

Remco van den Bosch

Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), Heidelberg

host: Karl Gebhardt

Sep. 30

"The Architecture and Timing of Planetary Systems"

abstract

Daniel Fabrycky

University of Chicago

host: TBD

Oct. 7

"Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Supermassive Black Hole?"

abstract

Jonathan Trump

Pennsylvania State University

host: Steve Finkelstein

Oct. 14

"Puzzles in the Structure of Disk Galaxies"

abstract

Stephane Courteau

Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

host: Karl Gebhardt

Oct. 21

"Galaxy Build-up in the First Gyr: Insights from ultra-deep HST and Spitzer Observations"

abstract

Pascal Oesch

Yale University

host: Steve Finkelstein

Oct. 28

"Forming Earths and Mercuries: Solids Less Volatile than Ice"

Life requires a variety of chemicals and elements. The question of water, how it was delivered to Earth and how it would be delivered to exoplanets, has taken a central position. However, other chemicals and elements are also important. Earth is significantly (~80%) depleted in elements important for life like sodium and potassium, both much less volatile than water, but much more volatile than silicon, magnesium, or iron. I will show how part of the composition of rocky planets is set early during their formation process, when the solids are still in sub-cm dust grains. Thermal processing of these grains during accretion events will alter both their composition and geometries, promoting the rapid formation of planetesimals with compositions unexpected at their radial location. This can explain the Earth's puzzling depletion of moderately volatile elements. Relatedly, magnetically mediated interactions between small dust grains can explain why Mercury is extremely iron rich. Both processes should play major roles in exoplanet formation, with consequences for their composition and chemistry.

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Alexander Hubbard

American Museum of Natural History, New York

host: Joel Green

Nov. 4

"Shedding Lyman Alpha Light on Cosmological Reionization"

abstract

James Rhoads

Arizona State University

host: Steve Finkelstein

Nov. 11

"From Disks to Planets: Observational Insights"

abstract

Andrea Isella

Rice University

host: Adam Kraus

Nov. 18

"The Giant Magellan Telescope Project: Science and Status"

abstract

Rebecca Bernstein

Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT)

host: Taft Armandroff

Nov. 25

"There's Government in Your Science"

abstract

Joshua H. Shiode

American Astronomical Society

host: Jeff Silverman

Dec. 2
3.30 PM
RLM 15.216B

DeVaucouleurs Medalist

DeVaucouleurs Lecture: "The Growth of Supermassive Black Holes and Galaxy Evolution"

abstract

C. Megan Urry

Yale University

dinner host: Shardha Jogee (Medal Awarded by Daniel Jaffe)

Dec. 3
4 PM
ECJ 1.202

DeVaucouleurs Medalist

Public Lecture: "Black Holes, Galaxies and the Evolution of the Universe: An Observer's View"

abstract

C. Megan Urry

Yale University

dinner host: Daniel Jaffe

Dec. 4
4 PM
NHB 1.720

DeVaucouleurs Medalist

UT CNS Women in Science Lecture: "Why So Few? The Dearth of Women in Science"

abstract

C. Megan Urry

Yale University

dinner host: Dean Linda Hicke

Dec. 9

"Brown Dwarfs as Exoplanet Analogs"

abstract

Katelyn Allers

Bucknell University, Lewisburg PA

host: Adam Kraus