Cataclysmic variables as a laboratory for physics

RASC Regular Meeting, Monday February 10, 2025

Zeidler Dome, TELUS World of Science Edmonton, 11211 142 St NW Edmonton

7:30 PM (MST), Meeting begins, including guest speaker, AstroImaging Corner, and other RASC news.

FREE and open to the public.

This is a hybrid meeting. You may attend in person or remotely using Zoom. 

Zoom link

Cataclysmic variables as a laboratory for physics

Guest Speaker: Margaret Ridder, Department of Physics, University of Alberta

Beyond the death of stars like our Sun includes the formation of cataclysmic variables, which are interacting binary stars that contain a red dwarf and a white dwarf, the blazing hot skeleton of low mass stars. There are many different classes of these variable stars that are frequently observed by amateur astronomers with backyard equipment. Other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, such as radio, is where my research lies. This talk will bring us to the current research into cataclysmic variables at radio frequencies and how a wide range of physics can be explored in these fairly common objects. The exact way they produce radio light in most cases is still uncertain, but there is growing evidence for the origins being high energy outflows called jets and magnetic activity in the upper atmosphere of the red dwarf.

 

 

 

Margaret is a final-year PhD student at the University of Alberta studying astrophysics. She received her BSc from the University of Washington, Seattle, and her MSc at the University of Alberta. Her research is focused on interacting binary stars and stellar radio emission. Margaret is also passionate about outreach and has participated in public events held by the University of Alberta’s observatory and given talks at Nerd Nite, Strathcona High School, the Southwest Edmonton Seniors Association, and the Northern Prairie Star Party.

 

 

 

 

 

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