Abstract:
When we look up at the night sky, we are greeted with the immense vastness of our universe. As beautiful as the sky is, our eyes can detect only a small fraction of the light arriving from the universe. Celestial objects can emit energy across the Electromagnetic spectrum, from high-energy gamma rays to low-energy radio waves. Cold gas and dust between galaxies emit low-energy radio and infrared wavelengths, whereas hot gas around black holes can emit high-energy X-rays.
Humanity has observed these objects across different wavelengths of light by inventing various detectors and telescopes. Since different wavelengths of light interact with matter differently, telescopes designed for optical wavelengths cannot be used to observe gamma-rays or radio waves. In this talk, I will introduce different kinds of telescopes used for different wavelengths of light. and discuss the basic principles used to observe different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. I will also shed light on how observations at different wavelengths can tell us a unified story about a celestial object.
Speaker: Garima Rajguru
I am a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Clemson University, working on the gamma-ray luminosity function of blazars and their multiwavelength SED modeling. I was recently awarded the Zonta International Amelia Earhart Fellowship 2026, which is awarded annually to 30 women worldwide working in space sciences and aerospace engineering. I have completed my MS in Physics from Presidency University, Kolkata, India and my BS in Physics from Bethune College, University of Calcutta, India. During this time, I was selected as 1 of 10 undergraduate students from across India for the Undergraduate Associateship at the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics in Kolkata, India. Throughout my undergraduate years, I have been supported by national scholarships such as the JBNSTS scholarship and the INSPIRE scholarship, given to the top 1% students at their higher secondary (+2) level by the Government of India.
We will meet in a classroom in Plyler Hall 222 in the Townes Science Center. Visitors can park in the South Chapel Lot, which is the parking lot between the Daniel Chapel and the football stadium (park closer to the chapel side – see attached map, follow the red arrow). The building is across the Mall from the parking lot. The classroom is on the second floor; there is stair and elevator access near the classroom.