Astronomy on Tap: Supernovae and the Big Bang

The September 2016 Astro on Tap in Pasadena at Der Wolfskopff pub had an interesting start, as many of the audience members were mesmerized by the first Presidential debate. But after we decided to turn off the debates and start the session, the mood in the bar was lifted dramatically. We started off with Dr. Ragnild Lunan, a postdoc at Caltech, talking about "Spectacular Stellar Explosions" and the science of supernovae and old stars that eventually die off in spectacular explosions!

All photographs were taken by Christophe Marcade.

Our second talk was given by Dr. Andreas Faisst, a postdoc at IPAC/Caltech. Andreas talked about the early Universe, and detailed the evolution from The Big Bang all the way to the first galaxies with some amazing videos and balloon props!

We also had a lot of people participate in our astro trivia challenge. After a difficult selection, we gave away a few prizes including a NASA mug, t-shirt and exoplanet poster! All in all, it was a great positive night, despite the looming debate earlier in the night.

--Rahul

Lecture & Stargazing: The Invisible Universe Revealed

All photographs were taken by Christophe Marcade.

Tonight was our first night in a new location for our lecture series.  Due to some construction issues, we've now moved our lectures to Baxter Lecture Hall and our stargazing to Beckman Lawn (see our directions page for more info).  After some logistical issues we got started a few minutes late.  Anna Ho, our speaker for the night, gave a tremendous talk on the invisible universe, the universe we cannot directly perceive with our eyes.  

Anna described the various wavelengths of light in the electromagnetic spectrum, and how our eyes are only capable of viewing a very small fraction of them.  She described what sort of devices you have to create in order to "see" these other wavelengths of light, and what sort of objects you can then "see" like distance galaxies or the dust in between stars.  It was riveting!

After Anna's talk, the audience was welcome to stargaze out on the Beckman Lawn with our telescopes, or remain for a panel Q&A with our panel of experts.  Our panel consisted of Dr. Katherine Deck, Graduate Student Mike Wong, Dr. Anders Thygesen, and Dr. Cameron Hummels.  We had a great time talking with each other and our small audience.  

Stargazing out on the lawn was also pretty successful, and it looks like our new spot has less light pollution than the North Field.  We observed Albireo, Saturn, Mars, and the Moon.  Thanks to all 70 people who showed up at our new location!  We hope to see you again next month.

--Cameron