Join the Orange County Astronomers for an evening of looking at the universe with X-ray vision. Brian Hart, Ph.D. Graduate from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UC Irvine, will show us what common astronomical objects look like in the X-rays, and talk about his own research into the shapes and masses of galaxy clusters, the largest gravitationally-bound structures in the Universe.

Galaxy clusters come in all shapes and sizes, and are filled with a thin atmosphere of hot (~10-100 million degrees) gas that shines brilliantly in the X-rays. Hart will discuss the applications of his research to understanding the Universe and to understanding how galaxy clusters form. ssions, including the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, XMM/Newton, and Constellation-X, under NASA's "Structure and Evolution of the Universe" program.