2019 < Main < TWiki

---+ Past Events from 2019

<img src="%ATTACHURLPATH%/caltech_timeline_2019.png" alt="caltech_timeline_2019.png" width="320" height="240" />
<img src="%ATTACHURLPATH%/caltech_histogram_2019.png" alt="caltech_histogram_2019.png" width="320" height="240" />

For photos of all past events, see [[https://www.flickr.com/photos/143414768@N07/albums][our Flickr Page]].  
For lecture recordings, see [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpslw1KdoUvnCKi0swsb23w/videos][our YouTube Page]].<br>

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

---++++ Sunday, January 20, 7-10PM

[[20190120][Special Lecture and Stargazing with Lunar Eclipse - The Dawn of the Age of Gravitational-Wave and Multi-Messenger Astronomy]]<br />
*[[Lecturer]]*: Jameson Rollins<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Kishalay De, Mia de los Reyes, Lee Rosenthal, Ron Tso<br />
*[[TelescopeCaptain][Telescope Captain]]*: Andreas Faisst<br />
*[[TelescopeVolunteer][Telescope Volunteers]] (4)*: Alison Dugas, Gina Panopoulou, Ryan Rubenzahl, Hou Seng Wong, Chak Hei Tin<br>
Extremely high turnout for the eclipse despite cloudy forecast.  Approximately 450 attendees, with about 300 of them trying to squeeze into Hameetman.<br>
Definitely need a larger venue for predicted high-turnout events such as this one.<br>
Weather was cloudy all day, with slight clearing at sunset to reveal blurry location of Moon in the sky.<br>
Miraculously, clouds cleared at beginning of partial eclipse at 7:30PM to reveal Moon, Mars, M42, etc.<br>
About 5 minutes prior to totality at ~8:35PM, fog manifested directly in front of Moon, quickly spreading to whole sky.<br>
About 50-60% of the attendees departed, but many stuck around on the field or came inside to Panel Q&A.<br>
Fog/clouds persisted for all of totality and finally cleared about 5 minutes after totality ended at 9:45PM.<br>
The people who stuck around were rewarded for their patience with additional views.  
About 50-60 people attended the panel Q&A with some great (and very challenging!) questions.<br>
We had 5-6 telescopes on the field, but still had lines of ~30 minutes to view through one of them.<br>
Need better organization of lines or more telescopes or clearer instructions for people arriving on the field?<br>
Definitely a successful event.<br>

---++++ Monday, January 28, 7:30-9:30PM

[[20190128][Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf]]<br />
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Marie Ygouf, Shreyas Vissapragada<br />
*[[AoTVolunteer][Volunteer]] (2+)*: Jenna Pitman, Andreas Faisst, Kirsten Larson<br>
120 attendees, which was about a perfect number.  Technical difficulties with the sound, so we started<br>
about 20 minutes late.  Very good talks by both speakers, and general excitement from the public to have AoT after a 1.5 month break.<br>

---++++ Friday, February 15, 7-9PM

[[20190215][Lecture and Stargazing - The Universe at Cosmic Noon]]<br />
*[[Lecturer]]*: Rachel Theios<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Kaew Tinyanont, Mia de los Reyes, Chris Bochenek, Nitika Yadlapalli, Dillon Dong<br />
*[[TelescopeCaptain][Telescope Captain]]*: Mike Grudic<br />
*[[TelescopeVolunteer][Telescope Volunteers]] (4)*: Alison Dugas, Ryan Rubenzahl, Yuping Huang<br>
Winter storm was hitting, so very windy/rainy weather throughout.  Observing impossible, and driving was not great, which probably affected turnout.<br>
That said, we still had 90 attendees, and about 50 of them stuck around for the panel Q&A and an indoor telescope demonstration (Kaew).<br>

---++++ Monday, February 25, 7:30-9:30PM

[[20190225][Astronomy on Tap En Espanol @ Der Wolfskopf]]<br />
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Albert Izard<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Laura Sales, Lluis Mas Ribas<br />
*[[AoTVolunteer][Volunteer]] (2+)*: Calen Henderson, Cameron Hummels<br>
Our first foreign-language event, and generally a success.  The event was *totally* in Spanish.<br>
80 attendees, so not hugely busy, but still trying to get the word out about this to relevant audiences.<br>
Next time, contact Danny from Duolingo (~10 attendees came from that), meetup.com spanish language groups,<br>
and CSU Northridge (Wlad Lyra), Pasadena City College (Melva), and maybe try reaching out to CalPoly Pomona.<br>
Will definitely have more foreign-language events.<br>

---++++ Friday, March 1, 7-9PM

[[20190301][Lecture and Stargazing - Cosmic Gold: Neutron Star Mergers, Gravitational Waves, and the Origin of the Elements]]<br />
*[[Lecturer]]*: Eliot Quataert<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Lluis Mas Rebas, Mia de los Reyes, Dillon Dong, Kaew Tinyanont<br />
*[[TelescopeCaptain][Telescope Captain]]*: Mike Grudic<br />
*[[TelescopeVolunteer][Telescope Volunteers]] (4)*: Yuping Huang, Marianne Heida<br>
Another cloudy night making our 2019 an opaque year so far.  Good turnout despite that.<br>
130 attendees, with about 40 sticking around for our Panel Q&A.  Great talk by Eliot and he joined the Panel Q&A as well!<br>

---++++ Friday, March 15, 8-10PM

[[20190315][Lecture and Stargazing - Planet Nine from Outer Space]]<br />
*[[Lecturer]]*: Mike Brown<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Nicole Wallack, Kathryn Plant, Cecilia Sanders, Nitika Yadlapall, Kung-Yi Su<br />
*[[TelescopeCaptain][Telescope Captain]]*: Mike Grudic<br />
*[[TelescopeVolunteer][Telescope Volunteers]] (4)*: Ryan Rubenzahl, Jason Wang, Alison Dugas, Chris Bochenek<br>
First clear weather of the year and a great turnout with 250 attendees.<br>
We anticipate a lot of people, so we set up our "overflow" seating on the back patio, live-streaming the lecture<br>
to a projector and speakers set up there.  A few hiccups, but generally this worked pretty well.<br>
Mike's talk was excellent and we had some great questions both for him as well as the Q&A panel afterwards.<br>
Mike Zhang used a borrowed camcorder to record the lecture to improve on video quality for our recordings,<br>
but concluded that if we just zoom in and increase the room brightness to 75% during announcements and Q&A<br>
we will get good enough results by our standard method.<br>

---++++ Saturday, March 16, 10AM-3PM

[[20190516][Science for March Science Fair at Caltech]]<br />
*Organizer*: Cameron Hummels<br>
*Volunteers*: Jason Wang, Shreyas Vissapragada, Nitika Yadlapalli<br>
Big event today!  We gave away ~400 roasted marshmallows to children, and had probably 3-4x that number of people come through our optics demo.<br>
The total number of people at the event as a whole (including the talks) was 2500 from the organizers, so that's the number I'm quoting.<br>
In general, this worked really well.  Our optics demo, to use a 15" parabolic mirror pointed at the sun to roast marshmallows was great.<br>
The albedo of a plain marshmallow is too high to absorb sufficient radiation to ignite, but after it was dipped in cocoa powder, it dropped the albedo<br>
and ignited almost immediately.  We had a whiteboard illustration of the ray-tracing diagram and basic explanation of albedo, along with a small dobsonian<br>
reflector to provide an analog to a real telescope.  We also had our H-alpha solar scope out, and eclipse glasses that people could use to look at the sun safely.<br>
Lastly, we were paired with Jeff Rich from Carnegie Observatories who was making comets with our "make a comet" kit.<br>
After the booths were shutdown at about 2PM, Cameron gave a TED-style 10 minute talk inside to a 150+-person audience.<br>
The only major feedback we had was to have a better way of sanitizing our hands when handling the marshmallows.  So get hand sanitizer next time, and a small cloth (pillowcase from comet kit?) to put food on.<br>
Also make sure the people running the marshmallow ignition have at the very least polarized sunglasses to help block the rays.  It gets *bright*!<br>

---++++ Monday, March 25, 7:30-9:30PM

[[20190325][Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf]]<br />
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Vijay Varma, Liz Landau<br />
*[[AoTVolunteer][Volunteer]] (2+)*: <br>
We had a huge turnout tonight with 200+ people! The bar was so packed it was difficult to navigate.<br>
Maybe the increased attendance came from the "Behind the Curve" cameo, or the black holes topic, or that Liz invited friends?<br>
It was a little bumpy because all of the volunteers canceled, so it was just Cameron trying to do all of the setup and such.<br>
We couldn't sell merchandise without sufficient people to volunteer.  Oh well.<br>
Talks went well, and Liz played two songs prior to her talk, which were well received.<br>
Not sure what to do as our numbers increase.  Hopefully the new AoT Westwood will help share the load.<br>

---++++ Friday, April 12, 8-10PM

[[20190412][Lecture and Stargazing - NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope: Revealing the Invisible]]<br />
*[[Lecturer]]*: Marja Seidel<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Kaew Tinyanont, Nancy Thomas, Gina Panopoulou<br />
*[[TelescopeCaptain][Telescope Captain]]*: Andreas Faisst<br />
*[[TelescopeVolunteer][Telescope Volunteers]] (4)*: Liberty Locsin, Dina Ibrahimzade, Alex Guevara, Marianne Heida, Steven Hou Seng Wong<br>
Big turnout with 225 attendees overflowing the auditorium.  Some people left because they couldn't get a good view from the standing room available.  <br>
If this keeps up, we'll have to regularly offer overflow seating on the back patio.<br>
Great talk by Marja with the IR camera and VR demo of the Trappist-1 system afterwards.  A large number of people who stuck around<br>
for the panel Q&A -- 50+<br>

---++++ Saturday, April 13, 10AM-1PM

[[ScienceTrain][Science Train]]<br />
*Organizer*: Cameron Hummels<br>
*Volunteers* (4): Jason Wang, Dillon Dong, Mia de los Reyes<br>
Science Train rides again! Interacted with ~120 people over 3 hours.<br>
Rode Gold Line at Del Mar to Union Station in 2 groups of 2.  Then got out and hung around Union Station for ~2 hours.<br>
We had new "official" looking signs, which I think definitely helped us not look so amateur.  I think we'd benefit from nametags and status (e.g., Dr., PhD student).<br>
Walked between platforms and hallways in Union Station.  Had some really good discussions with people, as well as some challenging interactions.<br>
A few times had some people come up explicitly looking to grind an axe regarding religion and creationism vs Big Bang.<br>
While I think we handled this as best we could, trying to remain positive and modest, we should continue to brainstorm ways in which to best interact.<br>
On trains, the best strategy seemed to be to stand at the end of the car where everyone was facing, announce who we were and why we were there<br>
and offer to answer any questions (free, we just care about public education).  Even if people initially didn't talk, after 5 minutes of considering it and<br>
looking at our sign, discussion seemed to ensue.  Gold Line Train platform was a pretty good spot, but not so much the red/purple line platform.<br>
We need something like a science demo or something that people want to touch or play with, and potentially tweet or instagram with.<br>
Maybe the marshmallow optics demo, or some sort of hands-on activity, or maybe even a muppet!  Could easily go viral, which I guess is what we need.<br>
Overall, a successful event and builds on past science trains.  Definitely improving iteratively.

---++++ Thursday, April 18, 6-8PM

Hamilton Elementary’s SMART night (science fair)<br>
Operating a science-fair booth with our "Build a Comet" Dry-Ice demo<br>
*Volunteers* (2): Jake Jencson, Kaew Tinyanont, Steven Hou Seng Wong<br>
170 attendees.  Comet demo.<br>

---++++ Monday, April 22, 7:30-9:30PM

[[20190422][Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf]]<br />
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Calen Henderson<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Matt Giesler, Shea Garrison-Kimmel<br />
*[[AoTVolunteer][Volunteer]] (2+)*: Shreyas Vissapragada, Kathryn Plant<br>
113 attendees.  Talks went well!<br>

---++++ Wednesday, April 24, 7:00-9:00PM

[[20190424][Astronomy on Tap, Bishop @ Mountain Rambler Brewery]]<br />
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Cameron Hummels, Mark Hodges<br />
*[[AoTVolunteer][Volunteer]] (2+)*: None<br>
First event in Bishop and it was a success with 100 attendees!  <br>
Lots of support from the town and local bar.  Enthusiasm from audience, and a number of strong scores on the quiz.<br>
We should definitely do this again here.<br>

---++++ Friday, May 10, 8-10PM

[[20190510][Lecture and Stargazing - A Star is Born]]<br />
*[[Lecturer]]*: Mike Grudic<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Mia de los Reyes, Dillon Dong<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Nikita Kamraj, Cameron Hummels, Marianne Heida<br />
*[[TelescopeCaptain][Telescope Captain]]*: Michael Zhang<br />
*[[TelescopeVolunteer][Telescope Volunteers]] (4)*: Andreas Faisst, Hou Seng Wong<br>
Cloudy weather, so no observing possible.<br>
Still had an exception turnout despite the bad weather, with 180 attendees.<br>
Used the overflow seating in the library, and it went flawlessly according to the LivecastInstructions.<br>

---++++ Monday, May 20, 7:30-9:30PM

[[20190520][Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf]]<br />
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Cecilia Sanders, Lee Rosenthal<br />
*[[AoTVolunteer][Volunteer]] (2+)*: Ryan Rubenzahl, Shreyas Vissapragada, Nicole Wallack<br>
Big turnout with 175 attendees.  Good talks and engagement with audience.<br>

---++++ Friday, June 7, 8-10PM

[[20190607][Lecture and Stargazing - We Were The Discoverers: Witnessing the Exoplanet Revolution]]<br />
*[[Lecturer]]*: Arpita Roy<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Denise Schmitz<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Michael Zhang, Nicole Wallack, Reinier Janssen<br />
*[[TelescopeCaptain][Telescope Captain]]*: Andreas Faisst<br />
*[[TelescopeVolunteer][Telescope Volunteers]] (4)*: Ryan Rubenzahl, Zach Luppen, Kathryn Plant, Kaew Tinyanont (floater/photographer)<br>
Great talk and a great audience--210 people!  Set up the overflow room in the library and it went well.<br>

---++++ Monday, June 17, 7:30-9:30PM

[[20190617][Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf]]<br />
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Calen Henderson<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Nitika Yadlapalli, Allison Strom<br />
*[[AoTVolunteer][Volunteer]] (2+)*: Ryan Rubenzahl, Shreyas Vissapragada, Cameron Hummels<br>
Huge turnout with 200 attendees.  Three perfect quiz scores.  Kept quiz and swag with merch, which seemed to work OK.<br>

---++++ Monday, June 24, 7:30-9:30PM

[[20190624][Astronomy on Tap, West Side @ Thunderbird]]<br />
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Nathan Whitehorn, Briley Lewis<br />
*[[AoTVolunteer][Volunteer]] (2+)*: Yixiao Yan, Lee Rosenthal, Rory Bentley<br>
A good first AoT event at a new location. 90 attendees!<br>
AV setup was clean, with them providing an HDMI port and a headphone jack for sound.<br>
Microphone has some issues with feedback in many microphone positions, but generally it was good.<br>
Bar managers excited to have another event soon.  Leaving it up to Yixiao to figure things out. <br>

---++++ Friday, July 12, 8-10PM

[[20190712][Lecture and Stargazing - The Dynamic Radio Sky]]<br />
*[[LectureOrganizer][Lecture Organizer]]*: Mia de los Reyes, Nikita Kamraj<br>
*[[Lecturer]]*: Dillon Dong<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Mia de los Reyes<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Nikita Kamraj, Chris Bochenek, Anna Ho<br />
*[[TelescopeCaptain][Telescope Captain]]*: Yuguang Chen <br />
*[[TelescopeVolunteer][Telescope Volunteers]] (4)*: Zach Luppen, Gina Panopoulou, Lee Rosenthal, Sylvia Wang, Connor Hopkins, Tony Rodriguez<br />
First lecture without Cameron around! The lecture had a good turnout of 108, so we didn't use the library overflow.<br />
Telescopes got more people, possibly from overflow from the von Karman lecture. The number of telescope volunteers (7) worked very well!<br />
Some things to improve on for next time: <br />During lecture announcements, need to mention "no food/drinks/high heels on observing field" and "reminder to fill out surveys" during announcements; still heard echoing from AV closet

---++++ Monday, July 22, 7:30-9:30PM

[[20190722][Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf]]<br />
*[[AoTOrganizer][AoT Organizer]]*: Calen Henderson<br>
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Calen Henderson<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Amruta Jaodand, Simon Lock<br />
*[[AoTVolunteer][Volunteer]] (2+)*: Katherine Fong, Max Millar-Blanchaer<br>
Our first AoT sans Cameron! We were in good hands with the second-most famous CH in NASAdena astronomy as MC, leading a moon-themed event to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, replete with a moon talk (by Simon), moon-themed trivia, and moon-themed trivia prizes! Katherine even counted ~200 attendees! All of the equipment worked perfectly, including the screen above the main stage as well as the sound. This may be a first for our AoT events, and it is likely a trend, as Gabe and Joey, two of the staff at Der Wolf, have said that they've recently had everything fixed. There was a bit of a kerfuffle at the beginning when ~30 school kids (maybe 8 years old?) and chaperones rolled in @ 7:29pm, saying that they had made a reservation with Cameron. Gabe and Joey and many attendees seated at the tables in front graciously helped to find room for the kids to sit and stand, and all in all the event proceeded without a hiccup, albeit with a start time that was delayed by 10--15 minutes.

---++++ Friday, August 9, 8-10PM

[[20190809][Lecture and Stargazing - Galactic Archaeology: Digging Through the Remnants of Galaxies]]<br />
*[[LectureOrganizer][Lecture Organizer]]*: Michael Zhang & Reinier Janssen<br>
*[[Lecturer]]*: Gina Duggan<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Michael Zhang & Reinier Janssen<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Dillon Dong, Mia de los Reyes, Kathryn Plant <br />
*[[TelescopeCaptain][Telescope Captain]]*: Gina Panopoulou<br />
*[[TelescopeVolunteer][Telescope Volunteers]] (4)*: Katherine Fong, Tony Rodriguez, Liberty Locsin, Winnie Jeng<br>

The counter malfunctioned, so we don't know how many people showed up for the lecture.  The auditorium was packed, and even the overfill room ran out of seating--we had to scramble to drag in chairs from conference rooms and the patio.  The telescope captain estimates ~200 attendees on the field.

For future reference: do not use the second handheld microphone and the lapel microphone at the same time.  They are on the same channel, and interfere with each other.  We forgot about this during the speaker Q&A, making it necessary to cut out all but one question from the YouTube video.

---++++ Monday, August 19, 7:30-9:30PM

[[20190819][Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf]]<br />
*[[AoTOrganizer][AoT Organizer]]*: Jessie Christiansen<br>
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Nitika Yadlapalli <br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Agnes Ferté, Jason Achilles<br />
*[[AoTVolunteer][Volunteer]] (2+)*: Janosz Dewberry, Mia de los Reyes<br>

Good turnout (at least 150 people, place was packed), saw several regulars but also lots of new faces who heard about AoT on FB. Jessie (organizer) helped Jason set up beforehand (Jason played for 30min before AoT started). Talks went well, although there was some confusion about how to turn on the sound (Der Wolf staff said they turned everything on, but we had to fiddle a bit to get it working). Nitika did a great job as a first-time MC! We needed several backup tiebreakers for the pub trivia, but it worked out in the end. (And someone at the pub donated tickets to the Space Expo as a trivia prize!)

---++++ Friday, September 6, 8-10PM

[[20190906][Lecture and Stargazing - Observing Black Holes]]<br />
*[[LectureOrganizer][Lecture Organizer]]*: Kaew Tinyanont & Andreas Faisst<br>
*[[Lecturer]]*: Marianne Heida<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Kaew Tinyanont & Andreas Faisst<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Dillon Dong, Mia de los Reyes, Janosz Dewberry<br />
*[[TelescopeCaptain][Telescope Captain]]*: Andreas Faisst <br />
*[[TelescopeVolunteer][Telescope Volunteers]] (4)*: Amruta Jaodand, Renee Ludlam, Gina Panopoulou<br>

Great talk--completely packed auditorium and overflow room (we ended up having to bring in chairs from the patio). Audio in the overflow room was excellent, although the aspect ratio on the projector was off. Lots of newcomers, which is always nice! The Q&A panel also had more takers than usual, and we had lots of good questions.

---++++ Monday, September 16, 7:30-9:30PM

[[20190916][Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf]]<br />
*[[AoTOrganizer][AoT Organizer]]*: Jackie Pezzato<br>
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Calen Henderson<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Guy Nir, Varoujan Gorjian<br />
*[[AoTVolunteer][Volunteer]] (2+)*: Jackie Pezzato, Max Millar-Blanchaer, Pablo Pirir<br>

Good turnout and the talks went well! Gender balance of the speakers was not 50/50 since Ylva Götberg had to back out for a family emergency. By show of hands, a large fraction (at least a third) of the attendees had never been to an AoT event before!

---++++ Monday, September 23, 8-10PM

Astronomy Workshop and Stargazing for State Street Global Advisors<br />
*Organizer*: Andreas Faisst<br>
*Volunteers*: Kirsten Larson, Yuguang Chen, Michael Zhang<br>
*Location*: Langham Hotel, Pasadena<br>

The workshop for the SSGA/Merrill was led by Mike Ash (Director for Business Development at Caltech) at the Langham hotel in Pasadena. This was a two-day workshop for two groups each with about 35-40 people working in finance. Mike asked us to organize a stargazing event at the end of the first day for each group.
The Langham location is great, it has a nice grass area facing south. There are stone plates in the gras to walk on and to put the telescopes. Also the staff was great and helpful, and we had no problems with the security letting us in to park the car in employee parking. There are some trees at the end of the yard but they did not interfere with the stargazing as the objects on sky were just high enough. We took the 8” and 10” telescopes with us and pointed them on Saturn and Jupiter.
During the first evening, the weather was clear and we had about 35 people from the workshop as well as about 15 random people from the hotel.
During the second evening, the cloud coverage was 3/8 in the first 30 minutes (we had about 10-15 people form a wedding dinner that took place at the same time as the workshop). Unfortunately he weather got rapidly worse (cloud coverage 6/8 around 9pm and overcast shortly thereafter) so only a handful of workshop participants were able to see the planets. However, we engaged in discussions about the planets, stars, galaxies, black holes, and stock market until around 10pm. The attendance during the second evening was lower, I guess about 20 people from the workshop plus 10-15 people from the wedding.
We noticed that the 10” is hard to rotate around the z-axis and we tried to loosen the screw but it didn’t help much (we tightened the screw afterwards). We figure that the stone plate was not level and therefore the telescope did not rotate smoothly. There were no other problems during the two evenings.

---++++ Wednesday, September 25, 8-10PM

Astronomy Workshop and Stargazing for State Street Global Advisors<br />
*Organizer*: Andreas Faisst<br>
*Volunteers*: Kirsten Larson, Yuguang Chen, Michael Zhang<br>
*Location*: Langham Hotel, Pasadena<br>

During the second evening, the cloud coverage was 3/8 in the first 30 minutes (we had about 10-15 people form a wedding dinner that took place at the same time as the workshop). Unfortunately the weather got rapidly worse (cloud coverage 6/8 around 9pm and overcast shortly thereafter) so only a handful of workshop participants were able to see the planets. However, we engaged in discussions about the planets, stars, galaxies, black holes, and stock market until around 10pm. The attendance during the second evening was lower, I guess about 20 people from the workshop plus 10-15 people from the wedding.
We noticed that the 10” is hard to rotate around the z-axis and we tried to loosen the screw but it didn’t help much (we tightened the screw afterwards). We figure that the stone plate was not level and therefore the telescope did not rotate smoothly. There were no other problems during the two evenings.

---++++ Friday, October 4, 8-10PM

[[20191004][Lecture and Stargazing - Why is the Sky Dark at Night?]]<br />
*[[LectureOrganizer][Lecture Organizer]]*: Yuguang Chen & Nikita Kamraj<br>
*[[Lecturer]]*: Alessandro Schillaci<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Yuguang Chen & Nikita Kamraj<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Reinier Janssen, Lee Rosenthal, Michael Zhang (AV) <br />
*[[TelescopeCaptain][Telescope Captain]]*: Andreas Faisst<br />
*[[TelescopeVolunteer][Telescope Volunteers]] (4)*: Steven (PCC), Brooke (PCC), Joseph (PCC), Matt (PCC), Erik (PCC) <br>

Fully packed auditorium plus about 30 people in the overflow room. The talk went overtime for ~15 min with audiences starting to leave at the end. We were short with lecture volunteers so one had to do multiple things and everything was a little bit rushed. The Q&A session was alright. The host had to ask some questions at the end to inspire more from the audience. The AV system was not working well. Noticeable buzzing and quirky noise got mixed into the live recording. It was removed in the YouTube version with noise-reduction software.

---++++ Monday, October 21, 7:30-9:30PM

[[20191021][Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf]]<br />
*[[AoTOrganizer][AoT Organizer]]*: Shreyas Vissapragada<br>
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Shreyas Vissapragada<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Alistair Hayden, Laura Kerber<br />
*[[AoTVolunteer][Volunteer]] (2+)*: Calen Henderson, Ryan Rubenzahl<br>

Another great event with a turnout of a bit over 100 people! Alistair discussed the history of space and planetary science in, as he referred to it, NASAdena, and Laura discussed Moon Diver, the mission concept for which she is PI at JPL. Both talks had the perfect mix of high-level science and graphics for a public audience, and there was a lot of enthusiasm during the Q&A!

---++++ Friday, November 1, 7-9PM

[[20191101][Lecture and Stargazing - Sounds of the Stars: Imaging Star Guts with Cosmic Music]]<br />
*[[LectureOrganizer][Lecture Organizer]]*: Reinier Janssen & Michael Zhang<br>
*[[Lecturer]]*: Jim Fuller<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Reinier Janssen & Michael Zhang<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Lluis Mas-Ribas, Evan Nunez, Samantha Wu<br />
*[[TelescopeCaptain][Telescope Captain]]*: Ryan Rubenzahl<br />
*[[TelescopeVolunteer][Telescope Volunteers]] (4)*: Andy Tzanidakis, Yashvi Sharma, Paolo Madonia, Brooke Ramirez, Anirudh Tammewar<br>

Total of ~130 people attending. Overflow room effectively unused. A very good lecture was followed by many interested questions both for Jim and Q&A panel completely filling the time and more. A few people sticking around for more discussion both inside and outside. Multiple college students (PCC and other) asking how to join the outreach volunteer list. Many thanks to Lluis for jumping into the panel last-minute.

---++++ Monday, November 11, 8-10AM

[[20191111][Transit of Mercury]]<br />
*Organizer*: Michael Zhang<br>
*Volunteers*: Kaew Tinyanont, Nikita Kamraj, Yuguang Chen, Ryan Rubenzahl, Andy Tzanidakis, Zhihui Li, Evan Nunez

We held this event 8-10 am on Beckman Lawn, under perfect weather.  We brought out 6 telescopes: the outreach 6 inch, outreach 8 inch, Caltech Rooftop Observatory (CRO) 8 inch, CRO Coronado SolarMax H-alpha, CRO Questar, and Ryan's personal telescope.  In addition, we set up the SolarScope on a table as the "quick look" option.  The solar filters for the outreach 6 and 8 inch were made by Yuguang and me using Baader AstroSolar film.  The SolarMax H-alpha telescope had the best view (we could see granulation and two small prominences, but no sunspots), followed by the Questar.  Despite its small size, Mercury was surprisingly easy to resolve as a circular disc in all telescopes.

I advertised the event on Facebook, Twitter, EventBrite, SpinGo, and Pasadena Now.  I also reached out to Griffith Observatory and Caltech's media office to help with publicity, in addition to sending media alerts to Pasadena star-news and LA Times.  In the end, Griffith advertised our event on their website, and Forbes mentioned our event in an article (which they heard about through Griffith's media alert).

We had ~500 attendees in total, and around 100 at any given time.  The line for the H-alpha telescope was especially long, partly because I told everyone it had the best view.  Most of the other telescopes had short or non-existent lines.

All in all, I am happy with the way this event turned out.  The only hiccup was that some people thought the event was at the lawn beside Beckman Auditorium, instead of the place called "Beckman Lawn".  Some of them went to Cahill, where Nikita pointed them to the right direction.  Others posted on the Facebook event page, asking if the event was cancelled.  This, combined with the cloudy weather at the beginning of the day, may have depressed turnout.


---++++ Monday, November 18, 7:30-9:30PM

[[20191118][Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf]]<br />
*[[AoTOrganizer][AoT Organizer]]*: Amruta Jaodand<br>
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Calen Henderson<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Michael Zhang, Nicole Wallack<br />
*[[AoTVolunteer][Volunteer]] (2+)*: Shreyas Vissapragada, Ryan Rubenzahl<br>

We were picked up by a 'Free Events in LA' outlet and had what is maybe our largest audience, at just over 150 people! Michael went deep in the quantum mechanics of space flight and then Nicole gave us some recipes for how to make (exo)planets! There is a new owner at Der Wolf, Krystal (sp?), but the manager (Gabe) and staff (e.g., Joey, Delilah) have all been retained. There were some issues with what appeared to be a new microphone, but thankfully the speakers and MC were able to improvise and make it work!

---++++ Friday, December 6, 7-9PM

[[20191206][Lecture and Stargazing - The Solar System’s Volcanic Wonderland]]<br />
*[[LectureOrganizer][Lecture Organizer]]*: Dillon Dong & Cameron Hummels<br>
*[[Lecturer]]*: Katherine de Kleer<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Dillon Dong & Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Nikita Kamraj, Dillon Dong, Mia de los Reyes, Janosz Dewberry <br />
*[[TelescopeCaptain][Telescope Captain]]*: Ryan Rubenzahl <br />
*[[TelescopeVolunteer][Telescope Volunteers]] (4)*: Andreas Faisst, Evan Nunez, Andy Tzanidakis, Jason Wang <br>
Rainy weather, but good turnout despite that at 160 attendees.<br>
We didn't use the overflow room during the lecture, but Ryan set up a "fly through the universe" demo using the computer and projector<br>
instead of observing.  Jason also brought a phone with google cardboard showing a VR demo for people to look around Saturn's environment.<br>
Good alternatives to observing, and we should follow up on doing this when the weather is bad in the future.<br>

---++++ Monday, December 16, 7:30-9:30PM

[[20191216][Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf]]<br />
*[[AoTOrganizer][AoT Organizer]]*: Jeff Rich<br>
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Jackie Pezzato, Andrew Emerick<br />
*[[AoTVolunteer][Volunteer]] (2+)*: Shreyas Vissapragada, Nitika Yadlapalli, Matt Orr<br>
Event ran smoothly and had a diminished turnout, consistent with hosting mid-December events.<br>
About 100 people attended, which was nice, as it wasn't too crowded and no long lines for beers.<br>
Difficult quiz with top score as 8/10.  Four-way tie.<br>

Link back to [[https://sites.astro.caltech.edu/twiki_outreach/bin/view/Main/WebHome][home page]].
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I	Attachment	History	Action	Size	Date	Who	Comment
png	caltech_histogram_2019.png	r1	manage	40.5 K	2019-12-18 - 20:29	OutreachAdmin
png	caltech_timeline_2019.png	r1	manage	40.8 K	2019-12-18 - 20:29	OutreachAdmin
This topic: Main > WebHome > PastEvents > 2019
Topic revision: r36 - 2023-10-04 - OutreachAdmin