Astronomy on Tap: Mount Palomar and Seeing LIGO Detections

All photographs were taken by Christophe Marcade.

Tonight was our second consecutive Astronomy on Tap event for Pasadena Astronomy Week.  Pasadena Astronomy Week is a series of events showcasing the ways in which Pasadena-based institutions have made important contributions to the field of astronomy and astrophysics.  Not only did we have a good turnout of excited members of the public, but Pasadena Mayor Terry Tornek showed up too!  We presented him with a NASA calendar highlighting exoplanetary discoveries made by the astronomical community.

Our two speakers were Caltech astronomers, Dr. Alex Urban and Dr. Eric Bellm talking about their relative fields of study.  Alex discussed how we can use telescopes to try to followup and find the locations of LIGO gravitational wave detections.

Eric talked about the rich heritage of the nearby Palomar Observatory, with some of the ground-breaking discoveries people have used it to make in the last century.  He also discussed how it scientists are continuing to build new instruments for it to continue doing state-of-the-art science today!

Thank you to everyone who showed up.  Come back tomorrow night!

--Cameron