At the Friday, September 18, monthly meeting our guest speaker shall be William Gottemoller. His topic is "Illuminating the Dark Universe With Gravitational Lensing."

Abstract: Black holes are “black” for a reason: light cannot escape from them! So, how can we detect black holes in the distant universe? Some extremely massive objects – like black holes, or large galaxies filled with dark matter – cause the universe to “bend” under their weight, producing a gravitational lensing effect that we can see with modern telescopes. In his talk, William Gottemoller – a current senior at Harvard and astrophysics researcher at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian – will describe his research in gravitational lensing, how we use lensing to test the nature of dark matter and black holes, and how lensing could help us understand how the universe is evolving. He will also discuss gravitational lensing’s role in testing recent significant challenges to our model of the universe.”

Also, here is his website for your reference:https://www.williamgottemoller.org/outreach/public-outreach

Non-members are welcome to attend as well as those with questions about using their telescope. Someone will be willing to help you out. Feel free to bring your scope along.

As William resides in the Boston/Cambridge area, his presentation will be via Zoom. As the event gets closer we shall publish the Zoom ID for this meeting.

Our meeting is at a new venue, The Youth Center at Epiphany Catholic Church on 914 Old Harrods Creek Rd in Anchorage.  Here is the Google map link https://maps.app.goo.gl/aGKhcTDCt3YFjzgh6