“Astroseismology: The Study of Starquakes”

This lecture was delivered in April 2014 by astrophysicist Conny Aerts. In her talk, Aerts explains how the study of stellar oscillations — the internal “quakes” of stars — opens a window into their inner structures. Using principles similar to those of terrestrial seismology, she shows how these vibrations can reveal a star’s mass, age, internal composition, and evolutionary stage. Aerts presents examples made possible by missions such as CoRoT and Kepler, and describes how asteroseismology has become an essential tool for understanding not only individual stars, but also the structure and evolution of our galaxy.

This lecture is part of the astrophysics series ‘The Science of the Cosmos, the Science in the Cosmos’, tackles the fundamental questions in contemporary astrophysics.The discovery of the earliest galaxies, the search for signs of life in the universe, the long-term stabili

This lecture was delivered in April 2014 by astrophysicist Conny Aerts. In her talk, Aerts explains how the study of stellar oscillations — the internal “quakes” of stars — opens a window into their inner structures. Using principles similar to those of terrestrial seismology, she shows how these vibrations can reveal a star’s mass, age, internal composition, and evolutionary stage. Aerts presents examples made possible by missions such as CoRoT and Kepler, and describes how asteroseismology has become an essential tool for understanding not only individual stars, but also the structure and evolution of our galaxy.

This lecture is part of the astrophysics series ‘The Science of the Cosmos, the Science in the Cosmos’, tackles the fundamental questions in contemporary astrophysics.The discovery of the earliest galaxies, the search for signs of life in the universe, the long-term stability of planetary systems and the study of starquakes are some of the issues examined in the third edition.