Prediction of a New Explosion of Luminous Star to be Announced at AAS Meeting

LSU researchers to make announcement at 2:15 p.m. today, webcast available at https://aas.org/press/AAS-press-conference-webcasts 

01/06/2020
BATON ROUGE – Astronomy researchers from the LSU Department of Physics & Astronomy will be at the American Astronomical Society, or AAS, meeting in Honolulu on Monday, Jan. 6, to present, for the first time, their estimate on the peak of brightness and explosion of a luminous star brighter than any other in the Milky Way galaxy.

WHAT:
LSU researchers will describe a historic explosive star merging event, which will have peak brightness lasting approximately for a month appearing as anew star brighter than any other star in the night sky.

Journalists and the public are invited to watch the livestream of the press conference on Monday, Jan. 6, at 2:15 p.m. (CDT) from the 235th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

WHEN:
Monday, Jan. 6
2:15 p.m. (CDT), 10:15am (HST) 

WHERE:
Room 325AB, Level 3
Hawaii Convention Center

WHO:
LSU Department of Physics & Astronomy Professor Emeritus Bradley E. Schaefer will present the historic prediction of the explosion of a luminous star visible. Schaefer and LSU Department of Physics & Astronomy Assistant Professor Manos Chatzopolous will be on hand to answer questions and conduct media interviews. Professor Juhan Frank will be available in Baton Rouge, La., for media requests.

LIVE WEBCAST:
This event will be simulcast live online. The press conference presenters will be available for media interviews following the announcement. The webcast will include audio, video, and presentation slides, so viewers will need a broadband (high-speed) Internet connection to watch and listen. Also, web browsers must have the free Adobe Flash plug-in: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer.

Instructions: https://aas.org/press/AAS-press-conference-webcasts, please press the Play (►) button in the video window to launch the webcast. The stream won’t be live until shortly before the briefing’s published start time.

 

Additional Links:
LSU Department of Physics & Astronomy
www.phys.lsu.edu 

235th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society
https://aas.org/meetings/aas235  

 

 

 

 

Contact Mimi LaValle
LSU Department of Physics & Astronomy
225-439-5633
mlavall@lsu.edu 

Dr. Rick Fienberg
AAS Press Officer
+1 202-328-2010 x116
cell: +1 857-891-5649
rick.fienberg@aas.org 

Ernie Ballard
LSU Media Relations
225-578-5685
eballa1@lsu.edu