Marymount University invites the public to its annual Myhill Memorial Lecture, which will be given by Dr. Eleanora Troja of the University of Maryland and NASA\u0092s Goddard Space Flight Center. The research scientist will speak on \u0093The Last Dance of Two Neutron Stars\u0094 at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 11 in Reinsch Auditorium on the school\u0092s main campus, 2807 North Glebe Road.<\/p>\n
The free event is held in memory of Dr. Liz Myhill, a beloved physics professor at Marymount from 1993-2010. A dessert reception will follow in the Lee Reception Room.
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\nTroja will describe the discovery of the first gravitational wave signal from the collision of two neutron stars in a galaxy 130 million light years away. The detection was made on Aug. 17, 2017.
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\n\u0093We now have direct evidence that neutron star mergers are the progenitors of short duration gamma-ray bursts, and the dominant sites for the production of heavy metals such as gold, platinum, and uranium,\u0094 Troja has written.
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\nMore than 2,000 astronomers around the globe organized one of the largest observing campaigns ever in order to study this new phenomenon, she added. The work heralds a new era of \u0093multi-messenger\u0094 astrophysics, in which light and gravitational waves provide complementary views of the same source. She\u0092ll describe how it has evolved over the past six months.<\/p>\n
\nPhoto caption
\nDr. Eleanora Troja<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Marymount University invites the public to its annual Myhill Memorial Lecture, which will be given by Dr. Eleanora Troja of the University of Maryland and NASA\u0092s Goddard Space Flight Center. The research scientist will speak on \u0093The Last Dance of Two Neutron Stars\u0094 at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 11 in Reinsch Auditorium on the […]<\/p>\n