On the Trail of the Missing Galaxies - The Oldest Stars in the Neighborhood

Embark on a captivating journey through the cosmos in this lecture exploring the enigmatic ultra-faint dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way and Andromeda. Delve into the groundbreaking discoveries made by wide-field surveys over the past decade, unveiling these least luminous, most dark-matter dominated, and least chemically-evolved galaxies known to date. Examine the intriguing "missing satellite problem" and how these faint galaxies offer new insights into this theoretical discrepancy. Explore the latest data from the Keck Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope, providing evidence on how reionization in the early universe may have suppressed star formation in the smallest seeds of galaxy formation. Learn about the evolution of the universe, star formation processes, and the cutting-edge technologies used in astronomical observations, including the Hubble Space Telescope and the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope. Gain a deeper understanding of how astronomers measure and analyze galactic data, from star clusters to the best astronomical clocks. Discover the implications of these findings for our comprehension of the local universe and the physics of galaxy formation in the early cosmos.