The Public Science Lectures
Feb 13, 2013 at Robbins (Arlington) Library, Arlington, MA

Thomas Dame, PhD, Director, Radio Telescope Data Center, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and Lecturer on Astronomy at Harvard University
more about Thomas Dame

Radio astronomy can unmask structures in the universe that are otherwise invisible. And the discoveries are spectacular. One of the most ambitious projects has been the mapping of the structures of the Milky Way, an immense task that has taken decades. Using small radio telescopes in the US and Chile, Thomas Dame's team has made a series of great discoveries, including the identification of two previously unknown spiral arms in the Milky Way. In this lecture, Dr. Dame explains how radio telescopes reveal the invisible, why mapping the structure of our own galaxy is so difficult, and how the famous discoveries of this project were made.

some background:

• Popular History of the 1.2 m "Mini"- Telescopes historical background about this project, including an explanation of the choice of small telescopes, and how Thomas Dame came to be involved
• Milky Way's Inner Beauty Revealed
• 2011 Distant Arm of Milky Way Found
• Arm's Trace: Astronomers Spot a Newfound Piece of the Milky Way Galaxy Scientific American article (2011)
• Tom Dame's famous poster The Milky Way in Molecular Clouds
• A composite CO survey of the entire Milky Way a particularly famous (professional) paper (1987) by Thomas Dame and colleagues
• (2015 discovery) One of Milky Way's Arms Might Encircle Entire Galaxy