Gravitational Waves And How They Were Discovered

Join us for an informative evening lecture. This lecture will take place on Sunriver Nature Center & Observatory campus at the Pozzi Education Building. 

Title: What even are gravitational waves?

In this talk, Phia Morton will explain what we currently know about gravitational waves, mysterious signals humming throughout the cosmos that were once deemed impossible to ever detect.

Synopsis: 

What even are gravitational waves? It sounds like an elusive concept, but gravitational waves are passing by you all the time without you even realizing it! Gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime predicted by Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity. These waves come from the most extreme events: the mergers of black holes and neutron stars. Unlike optical astronomy, gravitational waves cannot be seen with our eyes, making them extremely difficult to detect. Come learn about what happens when these gargantuan objects collide and how scientists are making the world’s most precise measurements to find out more.

Biography:

Phia Morton is a senior undergraduate student at Oregon State University studying applied physics with a minor in nuclear engineering. She has also worked at the Oregon Observatory for the past four years operating the telescopes. Her current research is with the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) at Oregon State University and LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) data at the University of Pisa. Both experiments focus on detecting and understanding gravitational waves produced by black holes and other exotic objects.