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SUMMARY:Echo mapping the gravitational potential well of black holes - Dr 
 William Alston\, Institute of Astronomy\, University of Cambridge
DTSTART:20180510T121000Z
DTEND:20180510T130000Z
UID:TALK97267@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Lorena Escudero
DESCRIPTION:Black holes are the most extreme objects found in the universe
 . They provide a one-way passage to the unknown\, places where our underst
 anding of physics breaks down. Pioneering work over the last century has t
 ransformed black holes from theoretical curiosities\, into the domain of t
 he observational astronomer.  These gravitational monsters reside in the c
 entre of all galaxies in the universe\, and are intimately linked to the f
 ormation and evolution of stars and galaxies we observe today.  Despite th
 eir enormous size\, our current telescopes are unable to spatially resolve
  them on the sky.  We therefore resort to indirect methods to zoom in on t
 he region directly around the black hole.  In this talk\, I will describe 
 current efforts to spatially map the gas in the immediate vicinity of a bl
 ack hole as it spirals down the deep gravitational potential well.  These 
 observations provide us with information about the two fundamental propert
 ies of black holes: their mass and spin.
LOCATION:The Richard King Room\, Darwin College
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