Learn about new discoveries in the study of supermassive black holes. Using two decades of high-resolution imaging, the UCLA Galactic Center Group has confirmed the existence of a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy by tracking the orbits of nearby stars. Advances in imaging technology have since revealed surprising features — including unexpected populations of young and missing older stars — and helped explain their behavior. These findings offer new insight into how black holes grow, how they shape their host galaxies, and how gravity behaves in extreme conditions.
Andrea M. Ghez, Nobel Laureate and professor of Physics & Astronomy at UCLA and the Lauren B. Leichtman & Arthur E. Levine chair in Astrophysics, is one of the world’s leading experts in observational astrophysics and is director of UCLA’s Galactic Center Group.In 2020, Ghez became the fourth woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for her independent discovery of a supermassive compact object, now generally recognized to be a black hole in the Milky Way’s galactic center. She is very committed to the communication of science to the general public and inspiring young girls to enter the field of science.
The event is free and open to the public.