Professor Claudia Maraston - Interpreting the light of Galaxies at the Computer.

Stellar population models are the essential theoretical tool to interpret data of extra-galactic stellar populations such as galaxies and globular clusters as well as one of the key input of galaxy formation models. This talk describes how these models are calculated and what are their main applications to cosmology and astrophysics.

Professor of Astrophysics, Claudia got a PhD in Astrophysics at the University of Bologna (Italy), after which she has been post-doctoral fellow at the Ludwig-Maximillian University of Munich (Germany) and the Max-Planck Institute for extra-terrestrial physics (MPE) in Garching (Germany). In 2005 she was awarded a Marie-Curie fellowship which she spent at the University of Oxford (UK). In 2007 she was awarded a Marie-Curie Excellence Team Grant with which she joined the University of Portsmouth (UK), as senior lecturer in 2007 and Reader since 2009. Claudia's expertise is the modelling of the spectro-photometric and mass properties of galaxies. The models calculated are publicly available at: www.maraston.eu.

The Vectis Astronomical Society meets on the 4th Friday of every month, except for December. This event is open for non-members to attend. The speakers come from all over the country and give a presentation for around 45 mins. We then stop for a break with tea and biscuits, which gives an opportunity to mingle and chat.

The second half of the evening sees a presentation by one of our regular members showing us what to we could see in the sky over the coming month. This always involves some great pictures projected onto the large screen.

Entry to the event is free of charge, although as we run as a charity, donations are always welcome.

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