The Invisible Universe

A collaboration with the Department of Museum Studies, MSU. Funded by a NASA/Chandra Education & Public Outreach Grant.

Astronmical Horizons Lectures

The following movies are Quicktime™ movies generated from Keynote™ that are advanced by clicking on the image.

• Waves, Storms, & Explosions on White Dwarfs and Neutron Stars (2005)
• Lighting the Standard Candle (2006)
• Stellar Death and Elemental Transfiguration (2007)

Spring 2001 Arthur H. Compton Lectures

A 10-part lecture series, Brown Dwarfs and Extrasolar Planets, presented at the University of Chicago

Wave and Tsunami Animations

These were presented at a forum held at MSU following the Indian Ocean Tsunami. Click on the image to launch the animation (a Quicktime™ player is required).

Deep-water waves (wind-driven) Here the wavelength is less than the water depth. The motions of the fish are circular, with an amplitude that decreases with depth. Launch movie
Shallow-water waves (tsunami) Here the wavelength is much greater than the water depth. The motion is mostly transverse, and the transverse velocity does not vary with depth. Launch movie
Animation of tsunami entering shallow-water Here I took a shallow-water wave of amplitude H=0.5 m in d=4000 m of water with a wavelength of 50 km, and propagated it along a linear slope. I ignored wave reflection, and scaled the amplitude as H∝d-3/4, consistent with a constant energy flux. In the lower panel, the light blue region is the wavelenght of the wave. The area in the white box shown in a magnified view in the top panel. The time to onshore arrival, wave velocity, and amplitude are printed between the panels. Launch movie