Will the sun die? How many galaxies exist? What does an exploding star look like?

 

These were some of the questions Spence students considered during a trip to New York University on April 19, 2017. The visit is part of an ongoing partnership with NYU and Dr. Maryam Modjaz, an assistant professor in astrophysics, that includes a series of classroom visits and assemblies, under the auspices of NYU’s Provost Cybele Raver’s (’82) office. This partnership was developed to support the Long Range Plan’s initiatives and Spence’s mission to encourage young women to pursue careers in science.

 
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Middle and Upper School Science Department Head Elisa Murphy and Director of Teaching and Learning Eric Zahler joined 16 Upper School students who expressed an interest in visiting NYU’s campus. The field trip started with a lunch with Dr. Modjaz and some of her graduate students, who discussed what a typical day looks like for them, what kind of research they are conducting and what process they follow for their paper-writing.

 

Dr. Modjaz then took the students to a seminar room to tell them more about the astrophysics faculty members (research scientists, postdocs, graduate and undergraduate students) and their collaborative work; their travels to places such as Hawaii, Chile and California to use telescopes; and Dr. Modjaz’s expertise in stellar explosions.

 

Students learned that exploding stars are the most powerful blasts in the universe, and that these explosions provide us with elements such as oxygen and iron. Dr. Modjaz showed photos of luminous exploding stars, highlighting the fact that the death of one star can outshine billions of other stars. According to Dr. Modjaz, our sun will not explode, but it will die in 4 billion to 5 billion years and become first a red giant and then a white dwarf, scorching the Earth during the process.

 

“We still have time—we have 4 billion years,” Dr. Modjaz said with a laugh. “We might have some other problems before then.”

 

One of Dr. Modjaz’s former graduate students, Nitya Mandyam, spoke to the students about galaxies. She noted that galaxies are gravitationally bound physical objects made up of dust, gases, stars, planets and dark matter, and at least 200 billion galaxies exist in the universe. One student correctly answered Mandyam that the speed of light is 3 x 10⁸ m/s, which means that it takes around eight minutes for light to travel from the sun to Earth.

 

“When you’re looking at the sun, you’re looking at the sun as it was eight minutes ago,” Mandyam said. “Applying this logic, the farther out into the universe we look, the more we’re looking into the past. … You can basically reconstruct a history of the universe.”

 

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) helps scientists study galaxies and look into the past. Mandyam as well as Dr. Michael Blanton, an astronomer and associate professor in the Department of Physics at NYU, use SDSS in their research. Dr. Blanton, who has been working on the survey since 1999, explained that the SDSS provides maps of the universe. He also talked with students about the collaborative work involved, including using telescopes, writing software and conducting science based on the data collected.

 

Spence students also received a tour of a biophysics lab from Amanda Lesar, a graduate student. One stop of the tour was the “fly room,” where students viewed individual neurons of a fruit fly larva.

 

The last stop of the tour was with Dr. Alexandra Zidovska, assistant professor of physics, who showed them the new biophysics lab. In one area, scientists grow cancer cells and genetically modify them to have special properties; they can add sequences to trick the cell into creating additional proteins to make molecules fluorescent, for example. Using a special microscope, the researchers have the additional capability of looking at single molecules inside living cells.

 

“It’s so much fun,” Dr. Zidovska said. “You are the first one looking at these things. No one on the planet has seen them before you. So you get truly exciting afternoons and nights spent in this room.”

 

“Alright, any questions? Who is interested in being a physicist or scientist?” Dr. Zidovska asked, and students raised their hands.