Dartmouth Events

Abstract: Large surveys, such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the upcoming Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, are revolutionizing many areas of astrophysics. I present some recent discoveries that highlight the diversity of advances enabled by large surveys of stars and exoplanet systems, including: (1) that the most and least tightly bound binary star systems likely have a common dynamical origin; (2) that the properties of low-mass stars and of benchmark eclipsing binary systems can be corrupted through the effects of magnetic activity and of tertiary bodies; and (3) that the "flickering" of stars, due to the granulation of their surfaces, reveals the true physical properties of exoplanets. I close with some thoughts on the role of human visualization for discovery with big data.