GAC November Meeting with Prof Emeritus Andrew Shearer (University of Galway)

Galway Astronomy Club are pleased to announce details of our November club meeting, which will take place at 7.30 pm on Monday the 10th November in the Ardilaun Hotel, Taylors Hill, Galway.

Talk: ‘What we still don’t know : what should we know in 20 years’ time’

Astrophysics and cosmology is at a turning point with a number of problems which hopefully will be addressed in the next 20 years. These problems include big questions. What is the nature of dark energy and dark matter? What does the Hubble tension tell us? Is there life outside the Earth: In our solar system? Around other stars? For my own research questions include what causes fast radio bursts? Will we ever develop a full understanding about how pulsars work?

This talk will address these problems firstly by laying out what we don’t know and what observations have taken place over the last 20 years to address them. The talk will then go onto look at the new observatories, instruments and space missions designed to address them.

Speaker: Prof Emeritus Andrew Shearer (U of G)

Professor Emeritus Andrew Shearer’s main interest is in studies of objects which change on short timescales – such as pulsars. He has made observations with most of the world’s major observatories. With others at NUIG he has developed instrumentation, GASP,  to study the optical polarisation from pulsars. For over twenty years Andy Shearer has been involved in a number of public engagement and outreach events. The main thrust of his work has been to bring astronomy (and Physics) to a much wider community.

All are welcome and we look forward to your company.