Dr. Wladimir Lyra, theoretical astrophysicist and associate professor of astronomy at NMSU, will discuss his research on one of the universe’s great mysteries – black holes – at the NMSU Faculty Lectures @ the Library. "We usually think of black holes as cosmic vacuum cleaners that swallow everything around them. In this talk, I will show that the giant black holes at the centers of galaxies may also do the opposite, building planets out of the dust that swirls around them. There could be millions of these planets around each black hole, some so big they turn into stars."

Dr Lyra earned his PhD in Astrophysics from the University of Uppsala in Sweden, specializing in computer simulations of planet formation. He came to NMSU in 2019, where he leads a NASA and NSF-funded group on computational astrophysics and planet formation.