I-Universe A celebration of the International Year of Astronomy by the IU Department of Astronomy

Student Contest | Kirkwood Obs. | Educational Resources | Film Series

Upcoming I-Universe Events:

IYA Film Series Continues!

Click here for schedule and more information

Public Lecture on Sept. 14, 2009

"Massive Open Star Clusters in our Galaxy:
studying the known and deducing the unknown"
Professor Margaret Hanson
Associate Professor of Physics, University of Cincinnati
7:30 PM Swain West 007

Surveys of the sky using infrared light have given us a glimpse of the stars of the inner plane of our Milky Way galaxy, a region obscured by dust when viewed in visible light.  Hidden in the dust are massive clusters of stars, as well as high-density regions of unbound stars that mimic true, bound stellar clusters.  But how many clusters remain undiscovered?
Professor Hanson will describe her research to understand the population of massive star clusters in our own galaxy.

Professor Hanson received her Ph.D. in Astrophysics from the University of Colorado in 1995. Following a postdoctoral appointment as a Hubble Fellow, she joined the faculty of the University of Cincinnati in 1998. Her research focuses on the formation and evolution of massive stars in the Milky Way and in other galaxies.

Public Symposium on Oct. 10, 2009

"The Stone Age Institute and Indiana University Present: "ORIGINS: The Evlotion of the Universe, the Earth, Life, and the Human Species"
Featuring IU faculty from physics, astronomy, geology, biology, paleontology, and anthropology in cutting-edge origins research
9:00am - 4:00pm (with a mid-day break)
in Whittenberger Auditorium in the Indiana University Memorial Union

For more information email info@stoneageinstitute.org
Veiw the poster or schedule

Public Lecture on Nov. 11, 2009

"Footprints in the Stars"
Professor George Lankford
Professor Emeritus of Social Science at Lyon College
Rawles Hall 100, 7:30 PM

The Big Dipper, Orion, Scorpio, and the Pleiades, familiar constellations of western culture, also figure prominently in the sky lore of the prehistoric peoples of the Americas, reflecting their own ancient, naked-eye astronomy. Their stories of the night sky held the traditions and wisdom linking past and future generations, and the stars represented not the distant gods and goddesses, but a living, passable trail between the earth and the inhabited sky. The varied narratives associated with the familiar asterisms, however, provide clues to the interactions and migrations of different cultures among these early Americans.  The prehistoric art and astronomical stories of prehistoric North America likewise provide a path for today's researchers to reconstruct how American Indian peoples understood the universe.

Dr. George Lankford, Professor Emeritus of Social Science at Lyon College, will share his study of the star knowledge among the American Indian peoples of Eastern North America, with illustrations from prehistoric art and the night sky. Professor Lankford is the author of many works, including Reachable Stars: Patterns in the Ethnoastronomy of Eastern North America (University of Alabama Press, 2007) and Looking for Lost Lore: Studies in Folklore, Ethnology and Iconography (University of Alabama Press, 2008). He is also an Indiana University alumnus, having earned his Ph.D. in folklore in 1975.

Spring 2009 I-Universe Events

Public Lecture on March 3

"The Search for New Worlds with Space Telescopes"
Professor Thomas Megeath, University of Toledo
Printable poster

Public Lecture on March 24

"The Chemical Heritage of Star and Planet Formation"
Professor Thomas Hartquist, University of Leeds

Public Lecture on April 21

"From the Big Bang to the Nobel Prize and on to James Webb Space Telescope"
Nobel Laureate Dr. John Mather, Goddard Space Flight Center

Contact Information:

For questions or further information, please contact astdept@astro.indiana.edu.