Mapping the Invisible Universe

If we mapped the universe, where would the limits of what we know lie? How we know what we know about the invisible universe? The cosmologist Priyamvada Natarajan will speak at the CCCB about how to answer this question by means of the great discoveries of cosmology today.

The heavens have fascinated human beings since time immemorial, and we have been mapping the visible to comprehend the cosmos. Celestial maps encode and reveal our evolving understanding of the universe. We have made tremendous progress in cosmology —from 1914, when we believed that our galaxy was the only one in the universe to today, when we have gotten up close and personal with a supermassive black hole and mapped its silhouette as done recently by the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration. Starting with the disorienting finding that our universe is in motion, unmoored and no longer stagnant, we have been rapidly uncovering many other features of our cosmos. The key discovery has been that it is invisible entities —dark matter, dark energy and black holes— that not only dominate the inventory of our universe but also fundamentally shape it. Priyamvada Natarajan will talk about how we know what we know about the invisible universe by mapping these unseen elusive elements in the universe.

Cosmologist Priyamvada Natarajan visit Barcelona invited by the Institute of Cosmos of the UB and the CCCB. The UB community can access for free with the UB card.