Black Holes and a cold winter's night viewing of the heavens

On January 14, 90 people joined six Columbia Astronomy Department volunteers to learn all about black holes from Dr. Sean T. McWilliams who gave a wonderful lecture on the upcoming observations by LIGO and LISA that may lead us to the first detection of gravitational waves from black holes. After his lecture, attendees were treated to a presentation by Andrew Brown on the issues relating to the in-the-news hoopla over the sidereal versus tropical zodiacs, missions to Mars, and the evolution of stars. Simultaneously on the 13th floor, Cameron Hummels gave a 3D tour of various astronomical observations and simulations to an enthusiastic crowd keeping warming from the main event: a tour of Jupiter, the Pleiades, the Orion Nebula, and the moon by volunteers Duane Lee, Erika Hamden, and Christine Simpson.