Eclipses and pulsations: Binary stars to the rescue

Speaker: Dr John Taylor, Senior Lecturer in Astrophysics, Keele University

Eclipsing binary stars have been used for over a century to understand how stars behave - they predate even the idea of thermonuclear fusion. Pulsations in stars are a more recent concept which give us a way to probe the interiors of stars. What do we get when these are combined together in binary stars that show both pulsations and eclipses? The short answer is beautiful plots of how their brightness varies. The long answer is that they are each laboratories for stellar physics which help us understand how stars work. 

In this talk, Dr Taylor will show the huge variety of eclipses and pulsations we have seen, especially using space telescopes; discuss what we can learn from them; and ask the question "what happens if we convert the brightness variation to sound?".

About the speaker

Dr Taylor is a lecturer in Astrophysics at Keele University, where his research interests are planetary systems, binary stars and pulsating stars. He also dabbles in music and public outreach. His first degree was a Masters in Astronomy and Astrophysics from the University of St Andrews. He then went to Keele as a PhD student in 2001, and graduated in 2006 with a thesis entitled Eclipsing Binary Stars in Open Clusters. His first postdoctoral position was at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen. After this he moved to the University of Warwick for four years, before returning to Keele in 2010 for his third postdoc. He was subsequently awarded an STFC Advanced Fellowship, and became a lecturer at Keele in 2011.

Keele Student Presentation - Real world applications of physics and maths by Davidson Ethien

The evening will start with a 15-minute presentation by first year physics and astrophysics student Davidson Ethien from Keele University.

Please register for this talk as it helps with the rooming and refreshment arrangements and allows us to contact you should there be any changes to the talk details.

Tea and coffee will be available from 6 pm in the Lennard-Jones foyer. Talks start at 6.45 pm and are followed by Q&A.

This talk will be accompanied by a British Sign Language interpreter.