We are stardust: The cosmic journey of the elements that make us

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

We are stardust: The cosmic journey of the elements that make us.

Guest Speaker: Dr. Rodrigo Fernández, Department of Physics, University of Alberta

Life cycles of stars
Graphics Credit: NASA

The building blocks of life – the chemical elements – were forged inside stars and scattered throughout the universe by powerful stellar winds and spectacular explosions like supernovae. We’ll explore how stars create these elements and how events like supernovae spread them across space, enriching the gas between stars and eventually forming new planets and even us.

Rodrigo Fernández

Rodrigo Fernández is an Associate Professor of Physics at the University of Alberta. He studies powerful cosmic explosions like supernovae, and the exotic remains they leave behind, such as black holes. He’s also interested in how the chemical elements that make up everything around us were created.  Originally from Chile, he studied astronomy there before moving to Canada for his graduate studies. He earned a PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics from the University of Toronto, and then conducted research at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and at the University of California, Berkeley. He arrived in Edmonton in 2016. At the University of Alberta, he leads a research group that uses Canada’s most powerful supercomputers to create simulations of events in space. These simulations help make predictions that astronomers can test by observing light, neutrinos, and gravitational waves.

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