Things That Go *Bang!* in the NightFrom MicaThings That Go *Bang!* in the Night - New Astronomy With Synoptic Sky Surveys a talk by Professor S. George Djorgovski, California Institute of Technology There is a new generation of digital synoptic sky surveys, which cover large areas of the sky repeatedly, looking for objects that move (e.g, potential planetary hazard asteroids) or change in brightness (e.g., various forms of cosmic explosions, variable stars, etc.). They touch upon essentially every field of astronomy, from studies of the Solar System to cosmology, and from stellar evolution to extreme relativistic astrophysics. There is even a real possibility of discovering some previously unknown types of objects or phenomena. These surveys are now the largest generators of data in astronomy, but discovering interesting objects in such massive data streams poses many challenges that must be overcome in order to extract maximum scientific returns. I will describe some of the ongoing work and discoveries, focusing on the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey (CRTS; see http://crts.caltech.edu/), including unusual types of Supernovae, blazars (the "cosmic accelerators"), etc. We are also starting a new "citizen science" project (see http://www.skydiscovery.org/ ) where anyone can help discover exciting new events on the sky. MediaSlides |