Abstract: Superluminous supernovae are mysterious explosions up to 100 times brighter than typical supernovae, and therefore require a much more energetic power source. In this talk I’ll present SN2019szu, a superluminous supernova with unique properties, including a plateau in the light curve before explosion! The spectrum also reveals peculiar insights into this object such as an emission line at early times, indicating interaction with material outside the supernova. Analysis of this event suggests it is one of the best candidates for pulsational pair-instability, a mechanism that allows stars to ejects massive shells of material before exploding.

Biography:

Aysha is a final year PhD student studying superluminous supernovae, tidal disruption events, and other weird and exotic transients. She started her PhD at the University of Birmingham before moving over to Belfast last year to complete it.

Abstract: In this talk I will be covering rings around planets within our solar system, theories about how they formed and how they have survived so long. Once the background has been set then we will discuss how we might find rings around planets outside of our solar system, known as exorings, along with the candidates that have been discovered thus far, and why this area of exoplanet research is important. 

Biography:  Niamh is a second year PhD student at QUB studying in the Exoplanet group with Ernst de Mooij and Chris Watson. She works on the search for and characterisation of exoring systems.

Admission free, all are welcome, including Light Refreshments.