Past Events from 2018

For photos of all past events, see our Flickr Page. For lecture recordings, see our YouTube Page.

To learn more about each event this year (including abstracts, titles, etc.), click on the event links below.

Monday, January 15, 7:30-9:30PM

Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf
MC: Cameron Hummels
Speakers (2): Stephen Taylor, Mia de los Reyes
Volunteer (2+): Allen Hovsepian
Huge turnout with 160 attendees after the holiday break!

Friday, January 26, 7-9PM

Lecture and Stargazing - When Galaxies Collide: Snapshots of the Universe's Largest Battles
Lecturer: Anne Medling
Lecture Captain: Ivanna Escala
Lecture Volunteers (3): Marianne Heida, Nikita Kamraj, Kishalay De
Telescope Captain: Mike Grudic
Telescope Volunteers (4): Allen Hovsepian, Michael Zhang, Yuguang Chen
Huge turnout with 160 attendees; Hameetman at capacity.

Monday, February 12, 7:30-9:30PM

Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf
MC: Cameron Hummels
Speakers (2): Harriet Brettle, Jim Fuller, Elizabeth Tasker
Volunteer (2+): Marianne Heida, Denise Schmitz, Ivanna Escala, Max Millar-Blanchar, Allen Hovsepian
Big night with three speakers, 140 guests, and lots of fun. Sound worked for Jim's stellar ultrasound talk through speaker.
Elizabeth sold 12 books

Saturday, February 17, 1:00-6:00PM

Science Train
Organizer: Cameron Hummels
Volunteer (3+): Olivia Wilkins, Shreyas Vissaparagada, Mia de los Reyes, Jeannie Wilkening
Rode from Gold Line Del Mar stop to Santa Monica and back on the Gold, Red, and Expo Metro lines.
Two groups of two astronomers with "Ask an Astrophysicist" signs and four sample questions listed.
We had a roamer, who would interact with each of the groups to try to seed conversations and break the ice.
Definitely more successful than last time with more lessons learned: (1) Roamer works for breaking the ice.
(2) Make it clear that this is free, and that we're doing this because we care about public science education.
(3) Make it clear we're from a respectable source: Caltech, NASA, JPL, potentially with nametags with names / status.
(4) Perhaps announce our presence on crowded cars when boarding: "We are astronomers and astrophysicists from Caltech and JPL
here to answer questions about astronomy, physics, and space. We're doing this for free because we care about public science education.
You could text message until your stop, or you could come learn about black holes and the expansion of the universe, but we'll try to keep it down."
for those not interested.
(5) Bring the tally counter to count number of people interacting. (6) Photo and record more.
(7) Need better signs and more official looking.
(8) Had almost as much luck interacting with people in busy train stations as we did on trains
(9) Interacted with two employees from Metro and two cops, and none of them even balked that we were doing this on the train or that it would be a problem.
(10) Make special flyers/cards promoting our events with a "Get a Free NASA sticker" or something when they come to one of our core events, so we can track
how many people actually come to our events from introduction at Science Train and/or Sidewalk Astronomy.
Probably had direct contact/conversations with about 70 and indirect contact with another 50 or so. Definitely a success.

Friday, February 23, 7-9PM

Lecture and Stargazing - Galaxies Aren't Great at Making Stars
Lecturer: Matt Orr
Lecture Captain: Ivanna Escala
Lecture Volunteers (3): Mia de los Reyes, Sarah Blunt, Yuguang Chen
Telescope Captain: Mike Grudic
Telescope Volunteers (4): Kaew Tinyanont, Cameron Hummels, Jacklyn Pezzato, Jono Squires, Allen Hovsepian
130 attendees. Views of Moon, Orion Nebula, Andromeda Galaxy, and Pleiades. Fun!

Saturday, February 24, 6:30-8:30PM

Sidewalk Astronomy
Organizer: Cameron Hummels
Volunteer (3+): Denise Schmitz, Kathryn Plant, Kaew Tinyanont, Kishalay De, Sarah Blunt
Went to Old Town Pasadena at Colorado and Miller Alley (North Side).
Set up 6" and 8" dobsonians--pointed at first quarter moon and Orion Nebula.
Invited people to have "Free views of the Moon through a telescope with astronomers from Caltech."
Then offered flyers for our lecture and AoT events as well as Spitzer Images and conversations.
Suggestions for next time: a big sign making us look more official (and affiliated with Caltech);
Special flyers/cards that they can trade in for a prize if they come to our AoT or Lecture (prize = NASA sticker?)
The cards act as incentive for them to come to our events, and let us track how many people come from our interactions on the sidewalk
Have annotated images of our astronomical targets, so we can show people what to look for.
230 attendees. Lots of fun for all! Christophe took photos.

Monday, March 19, 7:30-9:30PM

Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf
MC: Rahul Patel
Speakers (2): Jono Squires, Vikram Ravi
Volunteer (2+): Calen Henderson, Allen Hovsepian, Cameron Hummels 140 attendees--great turnout overall. Loudspeaker volume was subpar and lots of people could not hear.
Several perfect scores on the quiz.

Friday, March 23, 8-10PM

Lecture and Stargazing - The Truth About Black Holes
Lecturer: Leo Stein
Lecture Captain: Anna Ho
Lecture Volunteers (3): Cameron Hummels, Dillon Dong, Ron Tso, Maria Charisi
Telescope Captain: Mike Grudic
Telescope Volunteers (4):Andreas Faisst, Marianne Heida, Vivian Bai, Liberty Locsin, Allen Hovsepian
Huge turnout for a popular topic and minor celebrity around here.
Standing room only with 160 attendees! Good viewing of moon, pleiades, orion nebula, and double cluster.

Wednesday, March 28, 8-11PM

Stargazing at Esalen Institute
Organizer: Cameron Hummels
Volunteer: Drummond Fielding
Operated 8" dobsonian at Esalen Institute on the Central California Coast for attendees of workshops at the institute.
About 50 people showed up to enjoy the extremely dark skies, many of them first time viewers through a telescope.
Viewed Moon, Orion Nebula, Pleiades, double cluster, beehive cluster, E.T. cluster, Alcor/Mizar, Venus.

Saturday, March 31, 10:00AM - 3:00PM

Science for March
Organizer: Yuguang Chen
Volunteer (3+): Jacob Jencson
Caltech Astro participated in Caltech Postdoc Association's Science for March
We operated an H-alpha telescope for views of the Sun, and had a "build a comet" demo illustrating the various parts that go into a comet.
Overall about 500 attendees came through and engaged with our group.

Monday, April 9, 7:30-9:30PM

Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf
MC: Calen Henderson
Speakers (2): Christine Corbett Moran, Mike Grudic
Volunteer (2+): Lee Rosenthal, Mia de los Reyes, Cameron Hummels, Sarah Blunt
Great talks, challenging quiz, and too many puns.
90 attendees.

Friday, April 20, 8-10PM

Lecture and Stargazing - On the Road to a Billion Planets
Lecturer: Jessie Christiansen
Lecture Captain: Anna Ho
Lecture Volunteers (3): Lee Rosenthal, Sarah Blunt, Arpita Roy
Telescope Captain: Cameron Hummels
Telescope Volunteers (4): Michael Zhang, Dillon Dong, Vivian Bai, Liberty Locsin
150 attendees. Wonderful talk by Jessie, who was able to fill in for Marta Bryan's cancellation with only 1 week notice.
Views of Moon, Orion Nebula, Beehive Cluster, Venus, and Jupiter with all 4 Galileian moons.

Monday, May 7, 7:30-9:30PM

Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf
MC: Cameron Hummels
Speakers (2): Maria Drout, Gina Duggan
Volunteer (2+): Rebecca Larson, Andreas Faisst, Ron Tso
135 attendees. Great talks by both speakers along the same theme.
Finally after some initial difficulties got sound to go through house speakers--big improvement!
New remote is more powerful and no issues with changing slides. Progress!

Friday, May 25, 8-10PM

Lecture and Stargazing - The Grand Tour: Exploring Planets Outside the Solar System
Lecturer: Heather Knutson
Lecture Captain: Jessie Christiansen
Lecture Volunteers (3): Lee Rosenthal, Michael Zhang, Nicole Wallack
Telescope Captain: Cameron Hummels
Telescope Volunteers (4): Mia de los Reyes, Vivian Bai, Liberty Locsin, Yuguang Chen
125 attendees. Tarp continues to work OK for blocking some track light.
New step stools help for small telescope viewers.

Monday, June 4, 7:30-9:30PM

Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf
MC: Cameron Hummels
Speakers (2): Bruce Betts, Decker French
Volunteer (2+): Calen Henderson, Jacklyn Pezzato
100 attendees. Not sure why low turnout, but maybe end of school year?
No technical difficulties, and good talks overall.

Friday, June 22, 8-10PM

Lecture and Stargazing - Mysterious Flashes of Radio Waves from Deep Space
Lecturer: Gregg Hallinan
Lecture Captain: Kishalay De
Lecture Volunteers (3): Kathryn Plant, Dillon Dong, Anna Ho
Telescope Captain: Mia de los Reyes
Telescope Volunteers (4): Sarah Blunt, Marianne Heida, Vivian Bai, Zachary Luppen
180 attendees. Some technical problems getting into Cahill, but smooth after that.

Saturday, July 14, 2:00-10:00PM

Pasadena City of Astronomy: Astro Fest
Organizer: Cameron Hummels
Volunteers (2PM-6PM): Max Millar-Blanchaer, Marie Ygouf, Rebecca Larson, Eve Lee, Kathryn Plant, Zachary Luppen, Aurora Kesseli, Sindhoora Tallapragada, James Gong, Savannah
Volunteers (6PM-10PM): Andreas Faisst, Michael Zhang, Aurora Kesseli, Marianne Heida, Zachary Luppen, Yuguang Chen, Gina Panopoulou
2500 attendees. Some initial technical problems with the H-alpha telescope, but we eventually got them sorted. No sunspots, but one small prominence.
Comet demo worked well, once some items were replaced. Telescopes worked well all day long and into the night. We observed Sun, thin crescent moon,
Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn. Great job, everyone!

Monday, July 16, 7:30-9:30PM

Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf
MC: Cameron Hummels
Speakers (2): Sarah Blunt, Dillon Dong
Volunteer (2+): Max Millar-Blanchaer, Shreyas Vissapragada, Kathryn Plant, Rebecca Larson
200 attendees! Some technical problems with the microphone working that got us started 10 minutes late.
We had live music by Jason Achilles in the 15 minutes before starting up, which seemed to go well.
200 people is basically saturating the bar as it is nearly impossible to move, and it gets too hot.
May have to find a new larger venue if numbers don't decrease after COSPAR is over.
About $300 in merchandise sold to help support these efforts in the future.

Tuesday, July 17, 7:30-9:30PM

Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf
MC: Calen Henderson
Speakers (2): Rebecca Larson, Jim Bell
Volunteer (2+): Shreyas Vissapragada, Aurora Kesseli, Sarah Blunt, Matt Orr, Sindhoora Tallapragada, Cameron Hummels
220 attendees! Most people we've had at an AoT, and too crowded. Technical problems with TVs turning off (overheating?) and flickering.
Music in the intermission was rife with technical difficulties--we should avoid in the future.
More merchandise sold. Glad to almost be done with Astronomy Week.

Friday, July 20, 8-10PM

Lecture and Stargazing - A Stellar Diamond Named Lucy
Lecturer: Donal O'Sullivan
Lecture Captain: Cameron Hummels
Lecture Volunteers (3): Nikita Kamraj, Sarah Blunt, Dillon Dong
Telescope Captain: Michael Zhang
Telescope Volunteers (4): Alessandro Schillaci, Rebecca Larson, Paolo Madonia, Zach Luppen, Devin
185 attendees with people standing in the aisles and doorways. Terrific talk by Donal, followed by excellent (but crowded)
views of Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars! About 50-60 people cycled through the Q&A session.
A great finish to the Pasadena Week of Astronomy/COSPAR meeting, but glad it's done.

Monday, August 6, 7:30-9:30PM

Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf
MC: Rebecca Larson
Speakers (2): Emily Lakdawalla, Estevan Guzman
Volunteer (2+): Mike Grudic, Cameron Hummels, Sindhoora Tallapragada
200 attendees means a hot and crowded bar.
Estevan had some of his art for sale, which sold like hotcakes. Enthusiastic crowd overall.

Friday, August 17, 8-10PM

Lecture and Stargazing - Simulating Black Holes
Lecturer: Maria Okounkova
Lecture Captain: Ivanna Escala
Lecture Volunteers (3): Mia de los Reyes, Kishalay De, Cameron Hummels
Telescope Captain: Andreas Faisst
Telescope Volunteers (4): Alessandro Schillaci, Marianne Heida, Kirsten Larson, Rebecca Larson, Savannah Jacklin
180 attendees--consistently overfilling Hameetman. People love black holes!
Amazing solar system display of Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the Moon. Saw M13 too.
50 or so people stick around for Q&A Panel and Masha remains for an hour to answer questions.

Friday, August 24, 8:00-10:00PM

Sidewalk Astronomy
Organizer: Cameron Hummels
Volunteers (3+): Marie Ygouf, Michael Zhang, Dillon Dong, Anna Ho, Mia de los Reyes, Uping
Great night for sidewalk stargazing. 220 enthusiastic attendees over the course of 2 hours.
Set up 6" and 8" dobsonian telescopes along with small tabletop 4" on top of step stool.
Pointed telescopes at Jupiter, Saturn, and Moon, and then switched to Mars when Jupiter set.
Constantly had a group surrounding us and we ended up blocking the sidewalk a bit at times.
Still need an official-looking banner to display on a sandwich board or something.
Potentially include a QR code on it to redirect to our outreach website.

Monday, August 27, 7:30-9:30PM

Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf
MC: Calen Henderson
Speakers (2): Arpita Roy, Rob Zellem
Volunteer (2+): Mia de los Reyes, Cameron Hummels, Harriet Brettle, Andreas Faisst
100 attentive attendees. Not sure why the drop in numbers from the previous three events.
Some technical difficulties with displaying slides in presenter mode for first talk.

Friday, September 14, 8-10PM

Lecture and Stargazing - Cosmic Cartography: A Billion Stars in Six Dimensions and the Gaia Revolution
Lecturer: Erik Petigura
Lecture Captain: Anna Ho
Lecture Volunteers (3): Denise Schmitz, Dillon Dong, Michael Zhang
Telescope Captain: Kaew Tinyanont
Telescope Volunteers (4): Alessandro Schillaci, Marianne Heida, Andreas Faisst
150 attendees. Good views of Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, and the Moon!

Monday, October 1, 7:30-9:30PM

Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf
MC: Cameron Hummels
Speakers (2): Vanessa Bailey, Greg Salvesen
Volunteer (2+): Denise Schmitz, Calen Henderson, Nitika Yadlapalli, Ryan Rubenzahl
110 attendees. Despite some technical difficulties with the sound, we had two great talks deemed amongst our best from audience members.

Friday, October 12, 8-10PM

Lecture and Stargazing - Ceres, An Unexpectedly Active Dwarf Planet: Findings from the Dawn Mission
Lecturer: Bethany Ehlmann
Lecture Captain: Dillon Dong
Lecture Volunteers (3): Kishalay De, Kaew Tinyanont, Nathan Stein
Telescope Captain: Michael Zhang
Telescope Volunteers (4): Yuhan Yao, Nitika Yadlapalli, Gina Panopoulou, Ryan Rubenzahl, Cameron Hummels
130 attendees. First time it's been too cloudy to observe. Rain and thunderstorm. We had the Q&A and a telescope demo indoors. Also used the time to train the new telescope volunteers.

Friday, October 19, 7:00-9:30PM

Sidewalk Stargazing in Old Town
Organizer: Cameron Hummels
Volunteer (3+): Kirsten Larson, Ryan Rubenzahl, Alessandro Schillaci, Allison Dugas, Jason Wang
200+ attendees over 2.25 hours on Colorado Blvd and Miller Alley in Old Town Pasadena
Great conditions and views of Mars, Saturn, and waxing gibbous Moon.

Monday, November 5, 7:30-9:30PM

Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf
MC: Cameron Hummels
Speakers (2): Kathryn Plant, Cameron Hummels
Volunteer (2+): Mia de los Reyes, Jacklyn Pezzato, Calen Henderson, Shreyas Vissapragada, Pablo Pirir, Andrew Emerick
Big turnout on the night before the election with 180 attendees.
Enthusiastic crowd and people got really into the quiz with 3 perfect scores.

Friday, November 16, 7-9PM

Lecture and Stargazing - Planets Big and Small
Lecturer:Eve Lee
Lecture Captain: Ivanna Escala
Lecture Volunteers (3): Nikita Kamraj, Ryan Rubenzahl, Marianne Heida
Telescope Captain: Yuguang Chen
Telescope Volunteers (4): Alessandro Schillaci, Yuhan Yao, Alison Dugas, Pablo Pirir, Liberty Locsin, Dillon Dong, Cameron Hummels
Big turnout with 180 attendees and aisles completely full. Weather started out mediocre but cleared and we were able to see Moon, Mars, Double Cluster, and M31.

Monday, December 3, 7:30-9:30PM

Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf
MC: Calen Henderson
Speakers (2): Abby Crites, Max Millar-Blanchaer
Volunteer (2+): Michael Zhang, Nicole Wallack, Shreyas Vissapragada, Lee Rosenthal, Derrick Kwan, Cameron Hummels
140 attendees and some technical difficulties getting the sound to work.

Friday, December 14, 7-9PM

Lecture and Stargazing - Understanding the Formation and Evolution of Galaxies
Lecturer: Cameron Hummels
Lecture Captain: Cameron Hummels
Lecture Volunteers (3): Yuguang Chen, Dillon Dong, Rachel Theios
Telescope Captain: Alessandro Schillaci
Telescope Volunteers (4): Yuhan Yao, Ryan Rubenzahl, Paul Beckwith, Derrick Kwan, Hou Seng Wong, Liberty Locsin, Lee Rosenthal
120 attendees with cloudy weather. 60 people stayed for Q&A session.

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