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Dr. Locke Spencer

University of Lethbridge
Email: Locke.Spencer@uLeth.ca

Date of Live Presentation: tba
Location: tba



Title

Abstract

Over half of the energy emitted by the Universe appears in the relatively unexplored Far-Infrared (FIR) spectral region, which is virtually opaque from the ground and must be observed by space-borne instrumentation. This lecture introduces the Far-Infrared Universe, and a sample of associated telescopes and scientific instrumentation, including future missions and mission concepts. On the observational side this includes the creation and exploration of a spectral line catalogue based on the data found within the Herschel/SPIRE full mission archive, and the variety of (extra-)galactic sources within this data set including star and planet formation, all the way out to the oldest photons available to us from the cosmic microwave background, in particular as seen by Planck. On the space mission front, a variety of current and future missions and mission concepts will be introduced, including the proposed European Space Agency (ESA) M5 SPICA mission.


Short bio

Dr. Locke Spencer is a Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in experimental astrophysics within the Astronomical Instrumentation Group (AIG) at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Lethbridge. Prior to his current position at the U of L, he completed his graduate studies working on the imaging Fourier transform spectrometer on-board Herschel/SPIRE, and completed a 3.5 year post-doctoral fellowship in Cardiff University, Wales working primarily with the Planck telescope High Frequency Instrument (HFI). His research focus lies in instrumentation for Far-Infrared (FIR) astronomy and astrophysics, specializing in Fourier spectroscopy. He is currently supporting a number of FIR projects, including the Herschel and Planck missions, while working to contribute towards future FIR space instruments and observatories. He is a member of CAP, CASCA, and APEGA (P.Eng.).


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