Social Media
Keep up to date with us!
Upcoming Events
We will be holding lectures at Anodyne Coffee on the following dates starting at 1pm. Each event typically lasts 45-60 minutes, and questions are encouraged! Please see a list of the planned and past events below. We will also be hosting livestreamed lectures on our YouTube Channel (link below).
09/28/24: Galaxies: From Cradle to Grave – Prasanth Sukumar, Shashwat Sardesai, and Sarah Villanova Borges
At 2.5 million light-years from Earth, the Andromeda galaxy is the most distant object that a human can see with the naked eye. While it may seem like just a tiny blob of light against the night sky, Andromeda, along with billions of other galaxies in our universe, contain hundreds of billions of stars as well as more powerful compact objects lurking deep within their cores. Galaxies come in all shapes and sizes and reveal much about the dynamics and structure of our universe. Come to our talk and learn all about galaxies, from their humble beginnings to their strange and mysterious ends, and everything in between!
10/26/24: UW-Madison Astronomy on Tap 2: The Tappening – featuring special guests from UW-Madison
We are very excited to welcome back our friends from UW-Madison Astronomy on Tap for the second edition of our AOT/CSA crossover. Instead of one longer talk, there will be two shorter presentations and perhaps some fun trivia in the middle. Hope to see you there!
Volcanic Planets - In the Solar System and Beyond - Juliette Becker
Volcanoes are some of the most spectacular and powerful forces shaping planetary landscapes. They not only sculpt the surface but also influence the atmosphere and potential habitability of a world. In our own solar system, Jupiter's moon Io stands out as the most volcanically active body. Its surface is a constantly changing tapestry, driven by interior tidal stresses that cover its surface in volcanic craters. In this talk, we'll embark on a journey from Io's changing landscape to the surfaces of distant planets orbiting other stars. We'll explore how the same tidal forces that energize Io might also ignite volcanoes on worlds far beyond our solar system. Specifically, we'll delve into the intriguing L 98-59 system, where Earth-sized planets may be experiencing their own volcanic activity due to similar gravitational interactions that occur in the Io-Jupiter system.
Dancing with the Stars: Spinning, Slinging, and Swinging Across the Universe - Rachel Lee McClure
Stars live and die on expansive timescales. They jiggle, they wiggle, they expand, they spin, they orbit, and they oscillate on their journey throughout the universe. From scales ranging from the surface of a star, to the dynamics of stellar orbits and interacting galaxies, all the way to the expansion of the universe itself, we will explore the stellar dance that fills the cosmos.
11/23/24: Cosmic Clutter - Akash Anumarlapudi, Leith Benali, and Laila Vleeschower
Satellites have become essential to modern life, even if we don’t always realize it. They enable remote communication, give us navigation directions on demand, assist in climate research, and can even be used as tools to uncover the mysteries of the Universe. But once they're in space, how long do they stay operational, and what happens when they stop working? With so many satellites orbiting Earth, what happens when it gets too crowded? These questions have been a core point in the development of international “Space Law.” Join us as we explore the fascinating world of satellites — their purpose, their risks, and how we manage the growing challenge of space debris.
12/7/24: Fine, we'll talk about aliens – Amanda Baylor, Ronan Humphrey, and Gabe Freedman
In 1950 during a lunchtime conversation at Los Alamos National Laboratory, physicist Enrico Fermi asked “where is everybody?“. Fermi then went on to estimate that given the number of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy and probability of Earth-like planets, we should have been contacted by extraterrestrials by then. If the universe is so vast, why do we seem to be alone in it? What about the “Wow!” signal or that face on Mars? Maybe we have had contact and just don’t know it! Join us to discuss extraterrestrial signals, unexplained phenomena, and the relationship between science and the public when it comes to the search for extraterrestrial life.
