Thursday, November 5, 2015

Oct 30 - Re-tuning the Hubble Diagram


Our lecture this past Friday was by Columbia Astronomy graduate student David Hendel entitled "Re-tuning the Hubble Diagram".  David used stunning Hubble images to demonstrate the diversity in galaxy shapes and discuss how astronomers classify them. He then went on to discuss why this organization, the Hubble Tuning Fork, can be misleading and how galaxies can be transformed from one classification to another.

After the lecture, some stayed for a lecture on our Local Group by Lauren Corlies and Mihir Kulkarni and Richard Nederlander ran the 3D wall and a discussion on stellar structure. Up on the roof, the weather was great for observing. Yong Zheng led volunteers Emily Sandford, Alex Teachey, Aleksey Generozov and Zephyr Penoyre in pointing the telescopes at double star Albireo, the Double Cluster, and the elusive Andromeda Galaxy.


Overall, it was a great way to kick off the Halloween weekend.

-- Lauren Corlies (graduate student)