Nov 15, 2017   SOURCE: PR NewsWire

NASA Invites Media, Public to Discussion on Astronomy's Expanding 'Senses'

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Nov. 15, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, invites media and the public to hear from some of the first scientists to detect light and gravitational waves -- ripples in space-time -- caused by colliding neutron stars.

The University of Alabama in Huntsville will host a free science discussion, "Multi-messenger Astronomy: A New Era in Space Science," at 3:30 p.m. CST Monday, Nov. 20, in Room 112 of the Student Services Building at 301 Sparkman Drive.

Astronomers will share the story and science behind the violent stellar smashup and how a small team of Alabama scientists helped alert the global science community that something extraordinary was happening. Speakers and panelists will be:

    --  Julie McEnery, project scientist for the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope
        at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
    --  Tyson Littenberg, astrophysicist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
        and member of the LIGO Science Collaboration
    --  Colleen Wilson-Hodge, principal investigator for the Fermi Gamma-ray
        Burst Monitor at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
    --  Wen-fai Fong, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at
        Northwestern University
    --  Adam Goldstein, astrophysicist from the Universities Space Research
        Association at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
    --  Peter Veres, postdoctoral fellow at The University of Alabama in
        Huntsville
    --  Rachel Hamburg, graduate research assistant at The University of Alabama
        in Huntsville

Before the discussion, media will be invited to conduct one-on-one interviews with participants beginning at 3 p.m. in Room 114 of the Student Services Building.

Media interested in attending the discussion should contact Molly Porter by noon on Monday, Nov. 20, at molly.a.porter@nasa.gov or 256-544-2771.

For information about NASA, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

For information about NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, visit:

www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall

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SOURCE NASA