Event:Free Lecture on "Viewing Black Holes: from Mt. Aragats to Space"
Organizer: ARPA Institute
Venue: Merdinian Armenian School
Date: Thursday, June 10, 2010
Time: 7:30 pm
Address: 13330 Riverside Dr. Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
Speaker: Dr. Varoujan Gorjian, Scientist at JPL
Information: info@arpainstitute.org, (818)9910010,
Web:

Abstract: Black holes are one of the most amazing phenomena in
astronomy. Yet black holes themselves don’t emit any light, but their
presence can be detected as materials fall into them and emit very hot
and very bright radiation fields. A key catalog of this emission from
around black holes was made at Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory on
Mt. Aragats and is known as the Markarian Catalog. This catalog has
been an important steppingstone in understanding super-massive black
holes at the centers of galaxies known as Active Galactic Nuclei
(AGN). The AGN in the Markarian Catalog have been studied by
astronomers using telescopes from all over the world as well as in
space. The state and understanding of AGN from personal work, using
the Spitzer Space Telescope and the historical contribution that
Armenian astronomers have made to this field, will be reviewed and
discussed. Moreover, fuyure prospects in the field will be addressed
and the role of all the telescopes and satellites around the globe and
in space will be assessed.