NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Imagine a single, star-like object that burns with as much energy as billions of stars in hundreds of galaxies combined. Such objects exist. They are called quasars and are just one of the nearly unimaginable astronomical objects that eminent astronomer David Weedman will describe in the free public lecture, “Seyfert Galaxies, Quasars and the Edge of the Universe.”
The lecture, which will take place on Tuesday, May 27, at 7:30 p.m. in the Nashville Convention Center, Room 204-206, is being held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
Weedman, a Nashville native and graduate of Vanderbilt who now works at Cornell University, will explain astronomers’ current understanding of the most energetic objects in the universe, quasars and Seyfert galaxies. Both are galaxies that produce so much energy in their central regions that the only reasonable explanation that scientists have been able to come up with is that they contain central, super-massive black holes that formed when the universe was quite young. Weedman will also describe what kind of studies these objects will provide that will produce new insights into when and how galaxies and black holes originally formed.
In addition to holding faculty positions at several universities, Weedman has served as director of the astrophysics division at NASA and program director for the National Optical Astronomy Observatories and National Solar Observatory.
Media contact: David Salisbury, 615-343-6803, david.salisbury@vanderbilt.edu