Pershore Abbey hosts Professor Belinda Wilkes lecture on space X-rays

Professor Belinda Wilkes is currently a Royal Society Wolfson Visiting Fellow at the University of Bristol, and a senior astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts where she served as director of Nasa’s Chandra X-ray Observatory for six years.

The observatory is the world’s most powerful X-ray telescope. It has ten-times higher spatial resolution, broader energy range, and is able to detect sources 10 to 100-times fainter than any previous X-ray telescope.

It was launched by the space shuttle Columbia in 1999, and has been observing hot, turbulent regions of space ever since.

Chandra has made many exciting discoveries, helping scientists address fundamental questions about the origin, evolution and destiny of the universe and the celestial sources that populate it.

Professor Belinda Wilkes

Dr Wilkes will discuss the significance of space X-rays, and “travel” through the universe, exploring different kinds of celestial sources, from the most distant black holes to planets in our own solar system, from the birth, life and death of stars to the structure of the galaxies in which they live.

The lecture will take place at the Friends of Pershore Abbey annual meeting on Friday, April 29.

Welcome refreshments are at 6pm for the 7pm start. “We are thrilled to offer another significant speaker for our annual lecture,” said Prof Helen Whitwell, a trustee of The Friends.

“We hope to be joined by up to 300 people to help maintain this wonderful landmark.” 

Tickets to hear the eminent British scientist in the abbey are £15 (students free), available from the shop Blue in Pershore Broad Street or by email from helen_seaside@yahoo.co.uk.