Astronomy (Video)

Megan McArthur, Astronaut and UC San Diego graduate who served on the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, discusses the experience of becoming an astronaut. Series: "Women in Science" [Science] [Show ID: 18130]

Robert C. Kennicutt, Jr., a prominent American astronomer with the University of Cambridge, discusses the hidden universe that can only be studied fully from space-borne telescopes. Series: "Scientific Horizons" [Science] [Show ID: 19869]

Sukanya Chakrabarti, UC Berkeley, explains how computer simulations tare used to understand the evolution of galaxies. Series: "Science Today" [Science] [Show ID: 18325]

Aerogels are a class of materials with fascinating properties but they are hardly materials at all as they can be composed of up to 99.8% empty space. Aerogels are among the most versatile materials available for technical applications due to their wide variety of exceptional properties. This material has chemists, physicists, astronomers, and materials scientists utilizing its properties in a myriad of applications. In this lecture Dr. Gash and Mr. Dean Reese will describe and demonstrate the structure, properties, and advanced applications of aerogels, and even synthesize one. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 17645]

The solar system formed from a cloud of interstellar gas and dust cloud about 4.6 billion years ago. Life began on earth about 3.5 billion years ago following a period of intense bombardment by asteroid fragments and comets, intense volcanism and finally development of a stable crust and a hospitable atmosphere. Thanks to more powerful telescopes and other state-of-the-art observational methods, we can now see "stellar nurseries" and young stars at various stages of formation. In this talk we’ll learn what triggers star formation in clouds, circumstellar disks and planet formation within the disks, and we’ll discuss early life on earth. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 17644]

Leon Lederman was co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1988. He recalls his life after being discharged from the U.S. Army after WWII. From a returning troop ship docking at the Battery in New York, he hastened uptown to register as a graduate student in physics at Columbia University. His story sketches major events from there to the Nobel Prize celebration for the discovery of the muon neutrino, proving that there are at least two families of neutrinos. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Science] [Show ID: 17595]

Every couple of years, the earth is hit by a body with energy near that of the Hiroshima bomb. Deposited high in the atmosphere these events causes little or no damage. On longer timescales, impacts occur with the potential to destroy regions, or whole civilizations. Learn about the impact threat, followed by a systematic development of the requirements to divert such an object. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 17643]

Megan McArthur, Astronaut and UC San Diego graduate who served on the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, discusses the experience of becoming an astronaut. Series: "On Beyond" [Science] [Show ID: 17782]

Ed Moses, Director of the National Ignition Facility describes the path to a limitless supply of clean, safe energy. He explains how the world’s biggest, most energetic laser works and it’s goals. Nearing completion, the NIF will focus its giant laser beams on a tiny target filled with hydrogen. The goal is to replicate the conditions inside our sun and create, at a small size, its life-giving energy. Creating this sun process in the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is fundamental to the vision of developing limitless, clean, carbon-free, safe and environmentally friendly energy to meet the world's increased energy. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 17642]

No mystery is bigger than dark energy — the elusive force that makes up three-quarters of the Universe and is causing it to expand at an accelerating rate. Join a panel of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientists who use phenomena such as exploding stars and gravitational lenses to explore the dark cosmos. Series: "Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory " [Science] [Show ID: 17426]