LIA Conferences 2015

List of scheduled conferences for the AstrinLuce 2015 event, November 9-13, 2015.

Monday, November 9, 2015, 9:30 AM AUDITORIUM.

“Extreme X-ray Astrophysics“. Speaker Matteo Bachetti (INAF-OAC).

We will encounter some of the most fascinating and extreme celestial objects, smaller than a city but capable of containing the mass of several Suns. We will see why these objects, almost invisible from Earth with our eyes and telescopes, are instead bright when observed in X-rays. And we will see how X-ray signals from these objects represent one of the keys to understanding and testing the century-old General Relativity and the most advanced theories of modern physics.
FOR SCHOOLS

Monday, November 9, 2015, 6:00 PM AUDITORIUM.

“Sounds and Visions of Radio Astronomy“. Speaker Andrea Possenti (INAF-OAC)

Although started only about sixty years ago, research in the field of Radio Astronomy has produced some of the most striking results in modern astrophysics. Some of these will be presented with the support of images and sounds, and the future of this discipline will be described in the context of new major experiments being set up in Italy and around the world.
FOR THE PUBLIC

Wednesday, November 11, 2015, 10:30 AM AUDITORIUM

“The Rosetta Mission“. Speaker Mario Salatti (ASI)

Comets are minor objects of the Solar System, practically unchanged since the rotating matter around the newly born Sun condensed to form planets, dwarf planets, and their satellites. Almost a year after the historic landing of a human artifact on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, we take stock of the first mission orbiting a comet, a privileged observatory to study its transition between different states of “activity.” The daring feats of the Philae lander – which after 10 years of cruising with the mother probe Rosetta scraped the “stardust” – help shed light on the true nature of these fascinating bodies and, at the same time, testify to human audacity in conceiving and pursuing seemingly impossible endeavors.
FOR SCHOOLS

Wednesday, November 11, 2015, 6:00 PM AUDITORIUM

“The Existence of Gods“. How the twin paradox and the Copernican Principle provide a “relativistic solution” to Fermi’s Paradox. Speaker Luciano Burderi (Dept. of Physics, UniCA)

Fermi’s Paradox (“Where is everybody?”) refers to the lack of evidence for the existence of alien civilizations. After illustrating some of the proposed solutions, the phenomenon of time dilation predicted by Einstein’s General Relativity (Twin Paradox) and the Copernican Principle (Earth does not occupy a special place in the Universe) will be discussed as providing a natural solution to Fermi’s Paradox, suggesting the existence of “Gods,” nomadic travelers, creators of intelligent species in their image and likeness.

FOR THE PUBLIC

Friday, November 13, 2015, 9:30 AM AUDITORIUM

Exoplanets, Earth, and Our Place in the Universe.
Speaker Giambattista Aresu (INAF-OAC)

How common is our solar system? In the last 10 years, the discovery of more than a thousand exoplanets has provided important insights into the most fascinating question of the modern era: are we alone in the universe? In this brief lesson, we will analyze the discoveries that have redefined the uniqueness of our solar system and try to understand if indeed in the next 10 years we will face the discovery of the fabled twin Earth.
FOR SCHOOLS

Friday, November 13, 2015, 6:00 PM. Il Ghetto, Cagliari

The Invisible Light of Stars. Speaker Marta Burgay (INAF-OAC)

The human eye can perceive only a portion of electromagnetic waves, which we call visible light. Only recently have new windows opened to observe the cosmos, thanks to the construction of telescopes sensitive to electromagnetic waves of frequencies different from visible light: radio waves, infrared, ultraviolet, X-rays, gamma rays. Thanks to the study of these “invisible” waves, the origin, functioning, and destiny of celestial bodies already known for a long time have been understood, and at the same time, it has been possible to discover bizarre cosmic objects that were hidden from the view of normal telescopes.