Astronomer | Curious About Careers
5/17/2021 | 2mVideo has Closed Captions
Genesis is 'over-the-moon' to learn astronomy with Jillian Bellovary!
Genesis is 'over-the-moon' to learn about astronomy with Jillian Bellovary! Jillian explains to Genesis what black holes are, how they form, and how she studies them using computer simulations.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Curious About Careers is a local public television program presented by WKAR
Original production funding for Curious About Careers was provided by Capital Area College Access Network and United Way South Central Michigan.
Astronomer | Curious About Careers
5/17/2021 | 2mVideo has Closed Captions
Genesis is 'over-the-moon' to learn about astronomy with Jillian Bellovary! Jillian explains to Genesis what black holes are, how they form, and how she studies them using computer simulations.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Hi, I'm Genesis.
And today I'm here with Dr. Jillian Bellovary.
Jillian, can you tell me where you are and what do you do?
- I am in New York City and I am an Astronomer and a professor at Queensborough Community College.
- Tell me what you do at your job.
- I study things in space.
In particular, I study black holes.
A black hole is something that is so dense that nothing can escape it, not even light.
So bummer for everything in there.
There is one black hole that has had a picture taken of it, which is in the center of a galaxy called M87.
Sometimes we can see gas that's glowing, really, really brightly.
And we can figure out that that's because it's near a black hole and we can detect black holes if they merge with other black holes.
- How is STEM incorporated into your job?
- STEM is my job.
I am analyzing computer simulations of galaxies.
So I use computer programming.
I do some graphing, I do some math.
By using computer simulations, I can make predictions about what's going on in the universe.
And then I can let my colleagues know what I'm predicting and ask them to go on and look for the things that I'm telling them that are there.
And maybe sometimes they find them, which is pretty exciting.
So astronomers never work alone.
You have a group, you can talk about all your weird ideas.
It's no fun if I discover something cool and then I don't tell anybody about it.
And so we can work on our ideas together.
- What's the most rewarding part of your job?
- Mentoring students.
I love watching students have the like, mind blown moment.
- What is your advice to kids, especially girls who are interested in a career like yours?
- If you love space and if you think it's really fun to think about all the weird stuff in space, it's a really fun way to be creative but also, you could really make a difference and think about real things in the universe.
- I am over the moon that I get to learn about Astronomy with Jillian Bellovary.
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Curious About Careers is a local public television program presented by WKAR
Original production funding for Curious About Careers was provided by Capital Area College Access Network and United Way South Central Michigan.