Galactic Ecosystems: Engines of the Chemical Evolution of the Universe

TSS Horizons Speaker Series: Join TSS at the last Horizons of 2026 with Dr. Massimo Marengo, FSU Physics, as he guides us through the Milky Way, our own galaxy. (Tickets available through Eventbrite.)
This presentation by Dr. Massimo Marengo, is a journey in space as well as time. We start by visiting the different environments of the Milky Way, and seeing how they are all interconnected, as if the Galaxy were a living ecosystem. We learn how a complex system like the Milky Way came to be, from its birth in the Dark Ages of the Universe to the present day. Galaxies and their inner components such as stars nebulae and the supermassive black holes lurking at their cores, orchestrate a complex dance that transforms the Universe. Like the Milky Way, all galaxies are the engines that forge its elements, from the primordial hydrogen and helium formed shortly after the Big Bang, to the rich variety we find on Earth and within us.