BAS75 Celebration lecture with Chris Lintott - Our Accidental Universe

Exploring a cosmos as vast as ours is bound to result in a few surprises. In this talk, Chris Lintott (BBC Sky at Night/University of Oxford) explains how astronomers stumble across their discoveries. From the rich diversity of worlds in our Solar System to the edge of the observable universe, he will explain what we know about the cosmos is usually the result of happenstance. Along the way, we get a whistle-stop tour of cutting edge science and encounter sometimes profound, sometimes amusing but always thought-provoking stories from astronomy’s past.