Monthly Guest Speaker Topic
April General Meeting At the
Goethe Link Observatory
May 31th, 2008
"The Amazing Omega Centauri”
Professor Catherine A. Pilachowski
Globular clusters are among the oldest objects in the Milky Way, and were the key to understanding the
process of stellar evolution in the 1950's. The biggest globular cluster in our galaxy,
Omega Centauri, visible in the southern hemisphere with the naked eye, may not be a globular cluster
at all - it may be the nucleus of a captured and disrupted galaxy. Dr. Caty Pilachowski will
discuss the many interesting facets of this amazing star cluster.
Professor Catherine A. Pilachowski holds the Daniel Kirkwood Chair in Astronomy at Indiana University
Bloomington and incoming Chair of the Astronomy Department. Prior to coming to Indiana University in
2001, she served as a member of the tenured scientific staff at the National Optical Astronomy
Observatory in Tucson, Arizona, for 22 years. While at NOAO, she served as Project Scientist
for the design and construction of the 3.5-meter WIYN Telescope, a telescope at which the IUB
Astronomy Department owns a 17% share. Caty received a B.S. in Physics from Harvey Mudd
College in California, and a M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Hawaii, where she observed at
the Mauna Kea Observatory on the Big Island of Hawaii. She investigates the evolution of stars
and the chemical history of the Milky Way Galaxy from studies of chemical composition of stars
and star clusters. In addition to her astronomical research, Caty has been active in the areas
of astronomical instrumentation, large telescope design and construction, and electronic publications.
She has served on numerous national and international boards and committees.
She recently served as President of the American Astronomical Society, and has served more than
20 years as a Lecturer in the Society’s popular Harlow Shapley Public Lecture Program.
Last Updated: 06/22/08
©2005 Indiana Astronomical Society