From Dark Matter to Black Holes to Bright Clusters of Galaxies: 25 Years of Observing the High-Energy Universe With NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory

The Chandra X-Ray Observatory is a NASA Flagship mission designed to observe the Universe in X-rays while orbiting high above the Earth's atmosphere. Twenty-five years after its launch, Chandra remains one of the greatest technological achievements of modern astrophysics. It has the flattest mirrors ever constructed and has more than 10 times better vision than any other high-energy observatory. Chandra's unprecedented observing capabilities have allowed scientific breakthroughs and significant advancements in essentially all areas of astrophysics, including the study of black holes, exploding stars, the nature of dark matter, and the large-scale structure and evolution of the Universe as a whole. In this talk, Dr. Scott Randall will present some of Chandra's most notable research highlights from the past quarter of a century, with a focus on what we have learned about dark matter and how supermassive black holes interact with and influence not only their surrounding environment, but the evolution of galaxies across the entire history of the Universe.

Dr. Randall is a senior astrophysicist and the head of the Chandra Science Operations Team in Mission Planning at the Chandra X-Ray Center at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA). He received his Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Virginia in 2005 before immediately doing a postdoc at the CfA and then transitioning to the Chandra Mission Planning Team in 2007. Dr. Randall's work focuses on using X-ray observations of clusters of galaxies to study such topics as the microphysics of the intracluster medium (ICM) plasma, how galaxy clusters interface with the large-scale cosmic web, the interplay between supermassive black holes and their surroundings, and the nature of dark matter.

This program will last for approximately 60 minutes. Please remember to arrive at the planetarium at least 10 minutes prior to the showtime indicated on your ticket. For more information, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions page

Return to the Jim and Linda Lee Planetarium main page