September Meeting

Exploring Our Universe from the Far Side of the Moon

Join us for Skyscrapers' September Monthly Meeting at Seagrave Memorial Observatory

Saturday, September 6, 2025

Featuring Dr. Jonathan Pober, Brown University

Social hour at 6:30pm
Presentation at 7:00pm
Observing at 8:00pm, weather permitting

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82313163848?pwd=7S5gGYECl21QHqKnx5qbrjqTU2zSU3.1

Meeting ID: 823 1316 3848
Passcode: 671453

Title: Exploring Our Universe from the Far Side of the Moon

Abstract: After the Big Bang, our Universe entered a period without stars or galaxies, known as the cosmic "Dark Ages."  As the name suggests, the dark ages are nearly unobservable, given the complete lack of luminous sources that existed at the time.  However, low-frequency radio observations can measure the distribution of hydrogen gas during this era, providing a look into this heretofore-yet-unseen period of cosmic history.  The very long wavelengths (greater than 10 meters) associated with this signal cannot be observed from the ground due to the earth's atmosphere, necessitating a space-based mission.  In this talk, I will further describe the motivations for such an experiment and highlight the design considerations that will be required to make this ambitious project a reality.

Bio: Professor Pober works in the field of "21 cm cosmology" -- a program of research to observe neutral hydrogen from the early universe through its hyperfine 21 cm emission line.  His interests include both the development of new radio astronomy techniques to make these observations possible, and the physics of early universe galaxy formation and cosmology that they probe.  He is a member of several ground-based radio telescope collaborations, including the Murchison Widefield Array in Western Australia.  He arrived at Brown in January 2016; prior to that he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington.  He received his PhD from UC Berkeley in 2013.