Episode 100: The Monster at the Centre of our Galaxy, with Feryal Özel

Celebrating 100 Episodes with you at The Star

Spot!

Thank you for joining here at The Star Spot for our special

100th episode. I want to take a moment to thank the 100 absolutely

stellar guests that have joined us on the show over the last 4

years. You have educated and inspired people of all ages with your

insight and enthusiasm. Thank you to our listeners for helping us

grow our production and for your thoughtful suggestions and

terrific online discussion. And of course, a very special thank you

to the amazing team of volunteers who make our project possible. It

has been a great experience working with each of you and I look

forward to what the next 4 years will bring.

Feature Guest: Feryal Özel

As we speak astronomers are busy building the world’s biggest

telescope. And when it becomes operational one year from now the

globe-spanning Event Horizon Telescope will be aimed at the

supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy, taking the

first ever portrait of this hungry beast lying at the very core of

the Milky Way. To help us understand how studying the shadow of

supermassive black holes will provide the most rigorous test yet in

our understanding of gravity, today we’re joined at The Star Spot

by The Event Horizon Telescope’s Professor Feryal Özel

The Star Spot is Now on the Radio!

The The Star Spot podcast is now The Star Spot podcast and radio

show. That’s right. Your favourite astronomy program is now

travelling through space, specifically the 1280AM frequency. Our

broadcaster, CJRU The Scope at Ryerson, is now available on the

radio dial, which means you can join us at The Star Spot at 1280AM

every Sunday 8PM and Tuesday 6PM Eastern Time.

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cloaking device could help us hide our entire civilization from

prying eyes. And Anuj wonders if Saturn's moons may be younger than

we thought - and what that means for our exploration of the solar

system. 

About Our Guest

Feryal Özel is Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the

University of Arizona. She received her Masters from the Niels Borh

Institute and her PhD from Harvard University, before working as a

NASA Hubble Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study

at Princeton. Her research focuses on neutron stars and black

holes, and the relationship of black holes and galaxies in the

early universe. Professor Özel is a Fellow of the American Physical

Society and a member of the Science Academy of Turkey.