Astronomy on Tap

Astronomy on Tap is a nontraditional outreach event held in a pub. The general format is to have a few different short and informal science talks hosted in a local bar, with extended intermission between them so that members of the public can interact with the scientists present. It was originally organized in NYC in 2013, and has since spread to many cities around the US. We're partnering with other local astronomy institutions to organize the events for Los Angeles, and hopefully we'll expand to other parts of the city eventually. Between alcohol and science, what can go wrong?

Pre-COVID, events took place at Der Wolfskopf, a German beer bar located in Old Town Pasadena, held one Monday a month. Since COVID, we've moved our events online broadcasting over YouTube Live and Facebook Live. For photos from our previous Astronomy on Tap events, please see our Flickr Page.

The talks are on the astronomical topic of the speaker's choosing, but they're meant to be pretty informal. Drinking is encouraged for both speakers and audience members. Talks should be about 10-15 minutes long with ~10 minutes for questions. After the two talks and Q&A which takes about an hour, we have astronomy-themed pub trivia for our online audience, and the speakers are encouraged to stick around and discuss the answers. Overall it's lots of fun for everyone and gets 1-200 live viewers and then 1-2000 viewers afterwards.

Rough Schedule of Event

Instructions for Volunteers

• 1 MC - Announcements, organization, panel, and quiz
• 2 Speakers - Presentation for 15 minutes

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