Galaxies, Dark Matter, Cannibalism, Black Holes, and Gravitational Waves

My talk will be a slide presentation illustrated by the latest astronomical images, animations, videos, etc. I will discuss how the very material that human beings and other life forms are made of was once synthesized inside the Sun's ancestral stars. Our dark matter dominated Milky Way galaxy and other galaxies like it serve as chemical recycling plants and are responsible for the richness and complexity of the Periodic Table of elements. I will then go on to discuss the lives and times of galaxies: galaxy cannibalism and mergers, black holes, gravitational waves, and the growth and evolution of galaxies from the tiniest ripples in the fabric of the early Universe.

Speaker: Dr. Puragra Guhathakurta