2020 < Main < TWiki

---+ Past Events from 2020

<img src="%ATTACHURLPATH%/caltech_timeline_2020_final.png" alt="caltech_timeline_2020_final.png" width="320" height="240" />
<img src="%ATTACHURLPATH%/caltech_histogram_2020_final.png" alt="caltech_histogram_2020_final.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.

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

[[20200120][Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf]]<br />
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Calen Henderson<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Kaew Tinyanont, Tiffany Kataria, Sean Carey<br />
*[[AoTVolunteer][Volunteer]] (2+)*: Cameron Hummels, Andreas Faisst<br>
*Attendees*: 150<br>
Spitzer farewell event went well.  Despite only announcing this a week ago, we still had a good turnout.<br>
About 25% new people.  Merchandise went well too, with about $100 in donations.<br>

---++++ Wednesday, January 22, 5:30-7:00PM

Stargazing at Jefferson Elementary w/Campfire & S'mores<br />
Organizer: Cameron Hummels <br>
Volunteers: Patrick Shopbell, Chris Burns<br>
*Attendees*: 120<br>
We were invited to bring telescopes and help the elementary students get a look at the sky.  We brought three telescopes and three operators.<br>
It was pretty early in the evening, so initially the only thing visible was Venus, but after about 30 minutes, we were able to point at several other <br>
objects: Pleaides, Orion Nebula, Double Cluster, and even Andromeda Galaxy.  We handed out NASA stickers and invited families to join us at<br>
our other outreach events.  All in all, a pretty fun event!<br>

---++++ Friday, January 31, 7-9PM

[[20200131][Lecture and Stargazing - Galaxies are Cosmic Magnets]]<br />
*[[Lecturer]]*: Gina Panopoulou<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Reinier Janssen, Mia de los Reyes, Kaew Tinyanont<br />
*[[TelescopeCaptain][Telescope Captain]]*: Michael Zhang<br />
*[[TelescopeVolunteer][Telescope Volunteers]] (4)*: Yuguang Chen, Kathryn Plant<br>
*Attendees*: 150<br>
A solid start to the season.  We were only able to advertise this about a week out from the event, <br>
but despite that we had a pretty good turnout.  Good weather made for decent observations of<br>
M42, M45, and the Moon.  Some great questions, particularly from the youth in the audience.<br>

---++++ Monday, February 10, 7:30-9:30PM

[[20200210][Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf]]<br />
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Rachel Theios & Men-Andrin Meier<br />
*[[AoTVolunteer][Volunteer]] (2+)*: Lee Rosenthal, Ryan Rubenzahl<br>
*Attendees*: 150<br>
Good event with an enthusiastic audience.  <br>

---++++ Friday, February 14, 7-9PM

[[20200214][Film and Stargazing - Pale Blue Dot: Perspectives on our Planet]]<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Gina Panopoulou, Kathryn Plant<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Jackie Dowling, Newton Nguyen, Phil Jahelka, Shreyas Vissapragada<br />
*[[TelescopeCaptain][Telescope Captain]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[TelescopeVolunteer][Telescope Volunteers]] (4)*: Rachel Theios, Yashvi Sharma, Max Goldberg<br>
*Attendees*: 120<br>
Different dynamic but good turnout and a lot of interest in this topic.<br>

---++++ Friday, February 21 - Sunday February 23

[[https://mars.nasa.gov/events/194/][Death Valley Dark Sky Festival]]<br />
(Operating telescopes Friday and Saturday late nights in Death Valley with opportunity for short presentations)<br>
Organizer: Cameron Hummels<br>
Volunteers: <br>
*Attendees*: 200<br>
Our first effort to work with the National Parks in one of their events.<br>
I reached out to them about a month in advance (when I learned of this event), and offered our services.<br>
They were largely already booked up with speakers and such, but they said we could contribute by operating<br>
telescopes during their star party.  As the date approached, the weather was forecast to be cloudy and even<br>
 raining, so there were a lot of cancellations by other amateur groups operating telescopes.<br>
DVNP reached out and requested that we still show up to help with things despite the clouds, so I headed up there.<br>
In the end, the weather was cloudy and drizzly Saturday night, but there were still a few hundred people who showed<br>
up to the star party.  So we (the rangers and me) took turns giving short informal talks about astronomy and space<br>
and answering questions of the public.  Also I made contacts with rangers from Sequoia and DV for helping at<br>
future dark sky efforts.  A fun experience!<br>

---++++ Thursday, February 27, 7-9PM

[[20200227][National Geographic COSMOS Screening and Stargazing]]<br />
(New COSMOS episodes screened for ~60 min, then Q&A Panel and Stargazing for ~60 min)<br>
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Jason Wang, Arpita Roy, Ilaria Caiazzo<br />
*[[TelescopeCaptain][Telescope Captain]]*: Ryan Rubenzahl<br />
*[[TelescopeVolunteer][Telescope Volunteers]] (4)*: Paolo Madonia, Zhihui Li, Michael Zhang<br>
*Attendees*: 100<br>
Decent turnout for a cloudy Thursday night.  We were only able to advertise this <1 week prior<br>
because of constraints on the NatGeo end, so I count this as a success.  The show was pretty<br>
good, and then the panel Q&A was solid.  We were joined by Andre Bormanus, one of the producers<br>
of the program, and he was able to join our Q&A session.  Weather was too cloudy for any real<br>
observing unfortunately.  Probably won't work with NatGeo again because they had way way way<br>
too many hoops to jump through for such a simple event.  Just not worth it.<br>

---++++ Friday, February 28, 7-9PM

[[20200228][Lecture and Stargazing - De los Atomos a los Agujeros Negros]]<br />
(Need people comfortable speaking spanish as lecture volunteers, spanish not required for telescope volunteers)<br>
*[[Lecturer]]*: Javier GarcÃa<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Lluis Mas Ribas<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Sergio Fajardo-Acosta, Solange Ramirez<br />
*[[TelescopeCaptain][Telescope Captain]]*: Alessandro Schillaci<br />
*[[TelescopeVolunteer][Telescope Volunteers]] (4)*: Cameron Hummels, Viraj Karambelkar, Niyati Desai, Gina Panopoulou<br>
*Attendees*: 100<br>
A success for a new type of event like this.  Announcement, lecture, and Q&A panel was entirely in spanish.<br>
Some spanish and some english on the field for the telescopes.  Enthusiastic audience with good questions<br>
and lots of kids present.  Would like to do these events more frequently, but hard to find the spanish-speaking<br>
scientists and volunteers in our community, but I definitely think it is worthwhile at reaching a different audience.<br>

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

[[20200309][Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf]]<br />
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Ilaria Caiazzo & Donal O'Sullivan<br />
*[[AoTVolunteer][Volunteer]] (2+)*: Amruta Jaodand, Shreyas Vissapragada<br>
*Attendees*: 150<br>
A hectic start due to volunteers being late, and some recent losses of employees at the bar, but we got it started OK about 15 minutes late.<br>
Excellent talks by our speakers and a really engaged audience.  I had initially considered calling this event off due to concerns about<br>
COVID and Caltech shutting down similar public events, but I decided to not cancel it last minute.  Still had a huge turnout though.<br>
Six-way tie for first-place in quiz.  I used digits of pi to break tie, but not a great option because everyone inevitably got it wrong.<br>

---++++ PANDEMIC BEGINS, EVENTS MOVE ONLINE

---++++ Saturday, March 14, 10AM-3PM

[[20200314][Explore Caltech Science Fair (formerly Science for March)]]<br />
(Solar telescope, solar marshmellow demo, build a comet demos)<br>
*Organizer*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*Volunteers: (3)*: Jason Wang<br>
*Attendees*: CANCELLED DUE TO COVID19<br>

---++++ Friday, March 20, 8-10PM

[[20200320][Lecture and Stargazing - Real Images of Exoplanets (None of that Artist Conception Stuff)]] -- __Live__ __Stream__ __Only__ <br />
*[[Lecturer]]*: Jason Wang<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Jessie Christiansen, Paolo Madonia, Ilaria Caiazzo, Mia de los Reyes<br />
*Attendees*: 120<br>
This was our first live-stream event, and I think it went pretty well.  We were able to set up zoom<br>
and broadcast the meeting to Youtube Live.  Based on this event, we now have [[livecasting][Zoom to YouTube Live Instructions]].<br>
There were a few hiccups throughout, like Jason's connection going down a couple of times mid-lecture, but we got through it OK.<br>
Lots of positive feedback from the audience and some great questions. We will do this again soon.<br>

---++++ Thursday, April 9, 12-7PM

[[20200409][Astronomy on Tap 7th Orbitversary]] -- __Live__ __Stream__ __Only__ <br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Kishalay De, Anna Ho, Michael Zhang, Nicole Wallack<br />
*Attendees*: 80<br>
This event was a major 7h event spanning three continents.  Caltech Astro helped organize the whole<br>
thing, and specifically the final 2 hours of the event.  Some technical challenges but we pulled it off OK.<br>

---++++ Friday, April 10, 7-9PM

[[20200403][Lecture and Stargazing - The Circumgalactic Medium: The Gas Around Galaxies]] -- __Live__ __Stream__ __Only__ <br />
*[[Lecturer]]*: Yuguang Chen<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Kishalay De, Anna Ho, Michael Zhang, Nicole Wallack<br />
*Attendees*: 80<br>
Slightly fewer hiccups during our second live-streamed lecture.  Showed a bit of Stellarium while<br>
waiting for people to arrive.  Had a gold Q&A panel afterwards.<br>

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

[[20200420][Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf]] -- __Online__ <br />
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Jessica Spake & Matt Orr<br />
*Attendees*: 100<br>
Great online event, when we finally got the logistics of virtually hosting an event worked out.<br>
Good turnout and lots of interaction with our audience.  The pub trivia went very well too!<br>

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

[[20200605][Lecture and Stargazing - The Loneliest Galaxies in the Universe]] -- __Virtual__ <br />
*[[Lecturer]]*: Mia de los Reyes<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Dillon Dong, Nitika Yadlapalli, Max Goldberg, Shreyas Vissapragada<br />
*Attendees*: 120<br>
Event went well and we had a lot of interesting questions from our online audience showing that they were engaged throughout it.<br>

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

[[20200518][Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf]] -- __Virtual__ <br />
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Cameron Hummels & Calen Henderson<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Virginie Faramaz & Reinier Janssen<br />
*Attendees*: 140<br>
Consistently above 100 viewers throughout the entire event.  Lots of interaction using the pollev.com website for pub trivia.<br>
Started the event slightly early, ensuring we didn't lose people who connected at the start time and got bored and left.<br>

---++++ Friday, June 12, 7-9PM

[[20200508][Lecture and Stargazing - Measuring the Speed of Stars More Precisely Than Your Carâ€™s Speedometer]] -- __Virtual__ <br />
*[[Lecturer]]*: Ryan Rubenzahl<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Amruta Jaodand, Samantha Wu, AgnÃ¨s FertÃ©, Kaew Tinyanont<br />
*Attendees*: 100<br>
Good turnout despite postponing for a week due to the BLM protests.  Great talk and panel!<br>

---++++ Monday, June 15, 7:30-9:30PM

[[20200615][Astronomy on Tap @ Der Wolfskopf]] -- __Virtual__ <br />
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Calen Henderson & Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Arya Udry & Paz Beniamini<br />
*Attendees*: 80<br>
Great talks and lots of interest in these topics.<br>

---++++ Friday, July 10, 7-9PM

[[20200710b][Lecture and Stargazing - You'll Know It When You See It: Defining, Describing, and Detecting Life in the Universe]] -- __Virtual__ <br />
*[[Lecturer]]*: Cecilia Sanders<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Dillon Dong, Nicole Wallack, Andreas Faisst<br />
*Attendees*: 60<br>
Wonderful illustrations and presentation, although it went almost an hour.<br>
Good discussions afterwards.  More panel discussion as opposed to just Q&A.<br>

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

[[20200720][Astronomy on Tap]] -- __Virtual__ <br />
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Calen Henderson & Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Alistair Hayden & Nina Lanza<br />
*Attendees*: 80<br>

---++++ Friday, August 7, 7-9PM

[[20200807][Lecture and Stargazing - The Explosive Origin of the Elements]] -- __Virtual__ <br />
*[[Lecturer]]*: Andrew Emerick<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: <br />
*Attendees*: 100<br>
We dropped the number of panelists to 4 in total and I think it was much more conversational<br>
and approachable for the audience.  I also linked individual questions and their timestamps in the description,<br>
which I think is helpful for people searching for individual questions.<br>

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

[[20200817][Astronomy on Tap]] -- __Virtual__ <br />
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Calen Henderson & Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Alex Ji & Brittany Kamai<br />
*Attendees*: 100<br>
Great event with excellent talks by both speakers and lots of interesting questions from the audience.<br>

---++++ Friday, September 4, 7-9PM

[[20200904][Lecture and Stargazing - The Exceptional Astronomical Discoveries of the Ancient Greeksâ€‹]] -- __Virtual__ <br />
*[[Lecturer]]*: Michael Zhang<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (2)*: Amruta Jaodand, Nikita Kamraj<br />
*Attendees*: 230<br>
Biggest turnout yet for one of our virtual events.  We peaked at 232 concurrent viewers, <br>
we consistently had over 200 during Michael's talk and then more than 185 for the rest<br>
of the period.  I'm not sure why the huge increase, but maybe people just really like history<br>
or maybe we turned a corner on advertising?  We'll see if our next events are also as popular.<br>
Michael and our panelists all did a great job and were very enthusiastic.  A big success.<br>
Suggestions were made to potentially do a Reddit AMA, or offer an honorarium to speakers.<br>

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

[[20200928][Astronomy on Tap]] -- __Virtual__ <br />
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Calen Henderson & Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Konstantin Batygin & Jackie Faherty<br />
*Attendees*: 290<br>
Again, biggest turnout yet for one of our live-stream events with over 2000 views in the<br>
first 24h.  I guess we've passed some threshold where people are noticing our events.<br>
Great evening with two good talks and very charismatic personable speakers: Konstantin<br>
and Jackie.  Our trivia software, pollev.com, has now reached a cap of 40 responses, so<br>
we may have to pay for it, which is quite expensive ($500/year!).  Not sure how to proceed,<br>
but a good problem to have.<br>

---++++ Friday, October 9, 7-9PM
[[20201009][Lecture and Stargazing - Trying to Prove Einstein Wrong]] -- __Virtual__ <br />
*[[Lecturer]]*: AgnÃ¨s FertÃ©<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (2)*: Mia de los Reyes, Leo Stein<br />
*Attendees*: 100<br>
Good presentation but not a huge turnout after the last month.  I guess audience <br>
participation is very stochastic.  Lots of talk about the black hole Nobel prize awarded<br>
last week.<br>

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

[[20201019][Astronomy on Tap]] -- __Virtual__ <br />
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Calen Henderson & Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Briley Lewis & Chris Bochenek<br />
*Attendees*: 100<br>
Good presentations.<br>

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

[[20201106][Lecture and Stargazing - The First Portrait of a Black Hole and Beyond]] -- __Virtual__ <br />
*[[Lecturer]]*: Katie Bouman<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Jordan Moxon, Nitika Yadlapalli<br />
*Attendees*: 150<br>
Lots of interest in black holes!<br>

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

[[20201116][Astronomy on Tap]] -- __Virtual__ <br />
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Calen Henderson & Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Kishalay De, Casey Honniball<br />
*Attendees*: 100<br>
Used mentimeter for the first time, which seemed to work really well.<br>

---++++ Friday, December 4, 7-9PM

[[20201204][Lecture and Stargazing - Big Questions, Small Telescopes, & Fast Astronomy]] -- __Virtual__ <br />
*[[Lecturer]]*: Vikram Ravi<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (3)*: Michael Zhang, Evan Nunez<br />
*Attendees*: 70<br>
Great presentation and Q&A went well.<br>

---++++ Monday, December 14, 7:30-9:30PM

[[20201214][Astronomy on Tap]] -- __Virtual__ <br />
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Calen Henderson & Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Auriane Egal, Andrew Youdin<br />
*Attendees*: 60<br>
Great topical event on the Geminids meteor shower while it peaks today!<br>
Improved the use of mentimeter for quiz.  Good tool.<br>

Link back to [[https://sites.astro.caltech.edu/twiki_outreach/bin/view/Main/WebHome][home page]].
Attachments
Topic attachments
I	Attachment	History	Action	Size	Date	Who
png	caltech_histogram.png	r1	manage	40.7 K	2020-12-17 - 07:08	OutreachAdmin
png	caltech_histogram_2020.png	r1	manage	40.5 K	2020-01-14 - 23:43	OutreachAdmin
png	caltech_histogram_2020_final.png	r1	manage	42.5 K	2022-06-05 - 20:54	OutreachAdmin
png	caltech_timeline.png	r1	manage	43.8 K	2020-12-17 - 07:08	OutreachAdmin
png	caltech_timeline_2020.png	r1	manage	40.8 K	2020-01-14 - 23:43	OutreachAdmin
png	caltech_timeline_2020_final.png	r1	manage	54.1 K	2022-06-05 - 20:54	OutreachAdmin
This topic: Main > WebHome > PastEvents > 2020
Topic revision: r30 - 2023-10-04 - OutreachAdmin