From Galaxies and Stellar Streams to an Understanding of Dark Matter
- Speaker
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Sarah Pearson, Ph.D.NASA Hubble Fellow, New York University
Flatiron Research Fellow, CCA (2018-2021), Flatiron Institute
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There is more than five times as much dark matter in the universe as normal matter. Through gravity, we have observed evidence of dark matter’s existence for nearly 100 years, yet we do not know what the nature of dark matter is. In this talk, Sarah Pearson will take you on a journey through our universe’s history and explain how astrophysicists have used the distribution, movement, and growth of galaxies to map out how much dark matter there is in the universe. She will further reveal how stellar streams, which form as smaller gravitationally bound collections of stars are torn apart into distinct streaks on the sky, might hold the key to unravel the nature of dark matter.
Registration is required for this free event.
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About the Speaker
Sarah Pearson is a Danish astrophysicist and science communicator. Pearson obtained her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 2018 and, until recently, she was a research fellow at the Simons Foundation’s Center for Computational Astrophysics. Pearson currently holds a NASA Hubble Fellowship at New York University, where her research is focused on the structure and evolution of galaxies. Most notably, her research has contributed to the understanding of the Milky Way’s dark matter content. In addition to doing research, Pearson has a great passion for communication science. She has given numerous public lectures, including speaking at the World Science Festival. She runs the outreach program “Space with Sarah” on YouTube and Instagram, where she answers the most frequently posed questions about space.