Free 'Cosmic Gold' Astronomy Lecture Tonight At Foothill College

LOS ALTOS HILLS, CA – The Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series at Foothill College continues tonight, Wednesday, Jan. 24, with a free, public lecture by Eliot Quataert of University of California, Berkeley, entitled "Cosmic Gold: Neutron Star Mergers, Gravitational Waves, and the Origin of the Heavy Elements."

The illustrated, non-technical talk will be at 7 p.m. in the Smithwick Theatre, Room 1001, at Foothill in Los Altos Hills.

Quataert, a UC Berkeley professor of astronomy and physics and director of the Theoretical Astrophysics Center, will delve into how scientists have developed a new way to "see" the universe, using the gravitational waves predicted by Einstein nearly a century ago.

"These waves can teach us about some of the most exotic objects known, including star 'corpses' known as black holes and neutron stars," according to lecture organizers. "Remarkably, they have also helped solve a longstanding puzzle about where in the universe some of the elements we know and love here on Earth are produced, including gold, platinum, uranium, and even Californium!"

Foothill College is off the El Monte Road exit from Freeway 280 in Los Altos. For directions and parking information, see: https://foothill.edu/parking/. For a campus map, see: https://foothill.edu/map/. Large crowds typically turn out for these talks, so arrive a little bit early to find parking. The lecture is free, but there is a charge of $3 for parking on campus and exact change is appreciated.

The talk is part of the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series at Foothill, now in its 18th year, and is co-sponsored by:

• The Foothill College Astronomy Program
• The SETI Institute
• The Astronomical Society of the Pacific
• NASA's Ames Research Center.

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-Pixabay image via mikegi