Free Astronomy Lecture: Kepler’s Heartbeat Stars: When Binary Stars Get Funky | Presidio
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Observation Post at the Presidio | 211 Lincoln Boulevard, San Francisco, CA
Event Details
Submitted by the Event Organizer
CANCELED: Free Astronomy Lecture | Castro
Once monthly, the SFAA hosts distinguished guest speakers who are leaders in the fields of astronomy, physics and related disciplines and they present to SFAA Members the latest developments from cutting-edge scientific programs.
Held in the Randall Museum Theater on the third Wednesday of every month, come early for coffee and a light snack at 7:30 PM followed by the general meeting at 7:45 PM. The lecture begins at 8:00 PM.
– Updated 6/26/19 – Event info last checked via website
Using the continuous, high-precision photometry available from the Kepler spacecraft, the Kepler team discovered a type of eccentric binary star named heartbeat stars. In these systems, the two stars come close enough to each other to cause large, periodic changes in the tidal deformation and mutual irradiation of the stars. Additionally, these tidal forces are known to cause the stars in some of these systems to continually ‘ring’ at shorter periods. Currently, they have discovered more than 150 of these in the Kepler data and have been taking extensive follow-up spectroscopy to model and understand these systems.
Dr. Mullally will present an overview of these systems and discuss how these systems are allowing us to explore the physics of stellar tidal dissipation
Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.
Cost: FREE
Categories: Geek Event, Lectures & Workshops, San Francisco
