At Home with QC Presentations

Discover the intellectual heartbeat of Queens College from the comfort of your own home. Whether you’re a lifelong learner, a curious mind, or simply eager to stay connected with your alma mater, the “At Home with QC” series, held via Zoom, invites you to delve into a diverse array of topics that span the humanities, sciences, arts, and beyond. Since September 2020, this virtual series has been a beacon of knowledge, connecting alumni, friends, faculty, and the broader community through a dynamic exploration of research, academic topics, and cultural discussions.

QC astronomer Keaton Bell uses video recordings from space telescopes to measure vibrations of dead stars called white dwarfs. White dwarf stars are the glowing hot embers left over when most stars run out of nuclear fuel. Some white dwarfs vibrate spontaneously, revealing resonant frequencies of the stars that can be used to map their interior structures. This presentation will describe the physics of stellar vibrations by analogy with musical instruments. We will review how the QC White Dwarf Research Group interprets video recordings of vibrating stars to study their structures and discuss the importance of studying white dwarf stars. This talk will premiere an exciting new discovery that has never been seen by a public audience.

RSVP: bit.ly/AHWQC-KeatonBell