Columbia Astronomy Public Outreach

Life in the Universe

2012-02-18T10:11:00.000-05:00

Last night, we had a very successful outreach event headlined by PhD student Maureen Teyssier discussing where to look for Life in the Universe. She outlined the various components we understand to be necessary for life to exist elsewhere in the Universe including appropriate elemental materials, liquids, energy and stability. Furthermore, she pointed out the various ways in which we humans are searching for life, both in and out of the Solar System.

There were excellent conditions for observing, so attendees who went to the roof got to catch a glimpse of Jupiter and its moons, the Double Cluster, and the Orion Nebula through our telescopes. We also the 3D astrowall demonstrations of educational astronomy briefings. In the lecture hall, there was discussion of recent astronomical news and a Q&A period with graduate students and postdocs from the department. In all, we had about 200 people come join us.

--Cameron

February 3: Top 11 Astronomy Stories of 2011

2012-02-05T23:03:00.003-05:00

Last night, graduating grad student, Jana Grcevich, kicked off our Spring lecture series by recapping the "Top 11 Astronomy Stories of 2011." Some of the highlights included: the most massive galaxy cluster found, a possible detection of the Higgs boson, a possible detection of a supermassive black hole devouring a star, the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics going to three astronomers, and the discovery of over 3000 new exoplanets.

Jana ranked the new planet discoveries as number one on her list and many people would agree. Understanding and determining the available real estate for life to grab a foothold in our galaxy, let alone the rest of the Universe, ranks as one of the top 3 questions asked by humanity since humanity could ponder its own existence. Jana explained how the discoveries were made, by the Kepler space telescope, by stating that it measures the dimming of light from a star to determine the nature of the object causing the dimming due to occultation (the object passing in front of the star). She then focused on some of the gems from this exciting database of planets which included the discovery of a super earth-massed planet (roughly 2.5x) orbiting around its star in the habitable zone - an object known as Kepler 22b. Afterwards, she pointed out some planets orbit around binary stars, giving a shout out to the fans of Star Wars who recall Tatooine’s planetary system. Last, but not least, she displayed the best determination for many planetary systems’ orbits and configurations which showed us that planetary systems similar to our own are actually common place and not rare as previous thought based on the planetary systems discovered before the Kepler mission.

Many good questions were asked from the 140+ attendees last night, proving that a recap of the LAST year’s exciting discoveries was a great way to start off THIS year’s lecture series.

--Duane

December 16: How I Discovered A Supernova

2011-12-24T09:53:00.003-05:00

We had a wonderful turnout for Caroline Moore's talk "How I Discovered a Supernova." Caroline gave an enthusiastic and informative talk that covered all aspects of her amazing discovery of SN2008ha. Caroline primed her audience with the background on stellar evolution needed to understand why supernova form and emphasized what types of stars ultimately end as supernova (not all do!). She mentioned some debate that has surrounded the classification of the SN2008ha -- indeed, SN2008ha has a very low luminosity and determining its class has required followup work using a wide range of telescopes to understand its nature. Caroline described the process of "blinking" frames that she used to find SN2008ha. There were many children present in the audience, and in the end she let them try to find SN2008ha by blinking the frames and letting them find the supernova. Indeed, this proved more difficult than expected but also got the point across that this kind of work requires extreme meticulousness. After the talk, Caroline answered a range of questions and this is when we learned that she also discovered another supernova recently: SN2009he!

Unfortunately, the sky was cloudy but around 40 people still went up to the rooftop observatory for a tour, led by grad student Josh Schroeder and assisted by Jeff Andrews, Curtis Cooper, Ian Allen, and Miao Li. Grad student Jana Grcevich led 3D visual simulations up on the 13th floor of Pupin Hall. In the lecture hall after the talk, undergrad Emir Karamehmetoglu and I showed the video "Cosmic Collisions" and this led to an open discussion on a variety of astronomy topics. Thanks to all the volunteers and the 170 people who came out for the night!

--Allyson

Are there other Universes?

2011-12-04T00:11:00.002-05:00

Last night we had a fantastic lecture given by postdoctoral researcher David Kagan entitled: "Is Our Universe Alone in the Multiverse?" David covered a full introduction to assure everyone was on the same page for this high-level but philosophically interesting subject. He described the idea of an expanding observable universe, the multiworlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, the inflaton field theory and how it could describe other universes popping into existence ourside of our observable window and more. After his talk, he fielded questions for the remainder of the period from a group of dedicated enthusiasts.

In addition to the lecture, we had great observing conditions on the roof. Adrian Price-Whelan led a crew of graduate volunteers on our telescopes, helping attendees see the Pleiades, the Andromeda Galaxy, the first-quarter Moon, and Jupiter. In addition Yuan Li ran the 3D visualization wall permitting attendess to see simulation results and education movies in 3 dimensional projections. Thanks to all of the 160 people we had turn out!

--Cameron

November 18: The Truth About Black Holes

2011-11-28T10:05:00.000-05:00

On Friday, November 18th, over 200 astro enthusiasts gathered in Pupin to hear "The Truth About Black Holes." Dan D'Orazio shed some light on these enigmatic photon traps, discussing gravity, the equivalence principal and time as a malleable entity. Dan cut past the hype and speculation surrounding these theoretical predictions, and instead focused attention on the astrophysical contexts in which black holes exist, and how we can spot them.

Afterwards folks ascended to the roof, where Hugh Crawl, Jeff Andrews, Lauren Corlies, Sam Gordon and Lia Corralles showed visitors Jupiter, the Pleiades and Andromeda. For those who stayed downstairs, Munier Salem and Jenna Lemonias led a short quiz on Planet Trivia, which was entirely too easy for the stalwart enthusiasts.

--Munier

November 4: Captain Cook and the Cosmic Yardstick

2011-11-10T14:29:00.002-05:00

Last Friday, Professor Martin Hendry, from the University of Glasgow, described how the first measurements of the size of the solar system were conducted, first by the ancient Greeks, and later refined by observations of the transit of Venus from two different towns in England. He demonstrated how the geometry of the transit, seen from two different locations, can provide enough information to determine the distance from the Earth to the Sun. Martin then described the voyage of the HMS Endeavor, and how the measurement of the transit of Venus from the island of Tahiti provided the most accurate measurement of the astronomical unit (AU) until Radar allowed for more refined measurements.

Following the talk, Brandon gave a talk on the next few rungs of the distance ladder, and how the measurement of the AU allows us to measure much vaster distances. Jeff, Adrian and Miao enlightened visitors with views of the Moon, Jupiter, and Uranus on the roof, lead by Sam Grunblatt. Jana expertly ran the 3D wall, highlighting some of the more exciting events in the universe, and Jia helped with organizing and ensured that visitors were able to find their way to the roof and movies. Concurrently, Martin Hendry was delivering another talk, this time for an audience of students from one of the astronomy department's other ventures, Rooftop Variables. All in all, it was a very successful night for Columbia Astronomy.

--Brandon

October 21: Astronomy in Antarctica

2011-10-26T18:26:00.003-04:00

Last Friday evening, we had an excellent lecture on Astronomy in Antarctica given by Dr. Ross Williamson, a research scientist at Columbia University. In his talk, Ross explained the advantages of carrying out astronomical research in Antarctica, described his interesting experience traveling and working on the South Pole Telescope, and showed us dazzling pictures along with a beautiful movie. He also talked about some current experiments and their results.

Following the lecture, Jia Liu gave a slide show on neutron stars and Yuan Li showed the movie Cosmic Collisions in the lecture hall. The sky was cloudy that evening, but our roof volunteers Jeff Andrews, Christine Simpson, Josh Schroeder, Sam Gordon and Emir Karamehmetoglu gave a nice telescope tour to the visitors. On the 13th floor, Jana Grcevich showed a 3D movie Einstein's Universe which explains how Einstein's theory of general relativity is used in Astronomy.

Thanks to the 8 volunteers and the 160 people who came to our event!

--Yuan

October 8: Family Astro - The Moon

2011-10-14T11:05:00.000-04:00

This past Saturday, Columbia Outreach held Family Astro, a 2-hour event designed for children and their parents to learn about astronomy. In honor of International Observe the Moon Night, the theme of this semester's event was the Moon. Lauren Corlies and Ian Allen showed a movie depicting the formation of our moon and answered any and all related questions. Up in our big dome, Duane Lee and David Hendel displayed our biggest telescope and demonstrated the how the phases of the moon worked.

Our final and most exciting event headed by Lia Corrales asked the children to devise a spaceship(container) for an astronaut(egg) which could survive a landing on the moon (a drop). The egg drop was very successful with almost all participants successfully saving their eggs using a combination of play-doh, cups, balloons, tape and cotton balls.

The afternoon was fun and educational and we look forward to next semester's Family Astro.

--Lauren

October 7: The City Dark

2011-10-11T20:00:00.001-04:00

Our outreach series season continued with a screening of the documentary "The City Dark." Created by a Brooklyn-based filmmaker, the documentary examines the growth of light pollution, specifically in New York city, and the negative effects this can have. In particular, the documentary focused on how as a species we are losing our cosmic perspective and that desirable connection found by really looking at the stars.

Despite the light pollution, observing took place. Yuan Li showed visitors the moon while Duane Lee displayed Jupiter and its Galilean moons. Cameron Hummels and Adrian Price-Whelan were even able to show visitors the Ring Nebula. Before observing, others enjoyed seeing the 3D Wall with Jana Grcevic or having a discussion with Lauren Corlies and Summer Ash on the science behind the recent Nobel Prize in Physics.

Thank you to the approximately 250 people who came out for our event. You're support and interest are greatly appreciated.

--Lauren

September 30: Strange New Exoplanets!

2011-10-01T15:24:00.004-04:00

Last night we kicked off our fall outreach season with a bang! Visiting planet-hunter and astrophysicist Ray Jayawardhana presented an excellent talk on the field of exoplanetary discoveries. As a researcher actively engaged in exoplanetary discoveries, he took us through the entire evolution of this exploding young field in astrophysics. This lecture was part of his book tour, promoting his new popular science book: "Strange New Worlds." He was available to sign copies of his book after the lecture.

Despite the clouds and rain, we still put on a good show. Dr. Josh Peek and Cameron Hummels explained the new results of the neutrinos which may have traveled faster than light, and later answered questions on a variety of topics in modern astrophysics. Jana Grcevic and Miao Li took visitors on tours of the telescopes and the Rutherfurd Observatory. Finally, Yuan Li operated the 3D wall, showing audience members 3D views of our Universe.

Thanks to the 160 members of the public who attended!

--Cameron

August 19: Of Starquakes and Supernovae

2011-08-20T11:12:00.001-04:00

Torrential rains and violent forks of lightning couldn't stop the die-hard Astro Fans from coming to outreach Friday night. Jennifer Weston treated us to a talk concerning neutron stars, the complex and mysterious cousins of black holes. Jennifer spoke of their extraordinary density ; so dense Mount Everest could fit into a teaspoon! Neutron stars exist as an epic battle between the forces of gravity and quantum mechanics, and Jennifer was quick to point out that these extreme conditions introduce a host of mysteries concerning the stars' composition. The talk finished by discussing pulsars: rapidly spinning neutron stars that emit focused jets of light like cosmic lighthouses. The soggy patrons could have used a spin cycle, but we're not sure Neutron stars are what they had in mind: A star the size of Manhattan completing a rotation in under a second is quite a step up from your average Maytag appliance.

After the lecture, Cameron Hummels was on hand to give tours of the observatory while Yuan Li treated visitors to our 3D Wall. Back in the lecture hall Munier Salem and Josh Schroeder hosted a game show centered around the question "How big is the Universe?" The answer involved a surprising number of soccer balls. While mysteries surrounding the cosmos remained, we're happy to report one thing had been cleared up by the end of the evening: The sky!

--Munier

August 5: Practical Astronomy

2011-08-09T09:45:00.002-04:00

While we're sad that summer is ending, this happily means the return of our lecture series! We started off on an unique and interesting note with Dr. M. Ryan Joung giving a talk on how astronomy can have practical uses or in his own words, "on the usefulness of 'useless' knowledge." Ryan used many examples to highlight the advances astronomy have spurred in other fields. Did you know that your GPS system uses quasars to calibrate the positions of its satellites in the sky? Or that they rely on Einstein's theories of special and general relativity for accuracy? Ryan also pointed out that taking and processing images have been the forte of astronomers for decades. Their work with CCDs have helped make modern cameras possible. Also, image processing techniques that astronomers use to study structures in galaxies are now successfully being used to identify cancer cells. While focusing on the practical aspect of astronomy, Ryan concluded by reminding us that astronomy is beautiful and we truly do it to understand our place in the universe.

After the lecture, we were lucky enough for the clouds to stay at bay and had our first public observing session of the new semester on the roof. Munier Salem, Josh Schroeder and Christine Simpson showed people the Moon, Saturn and Albireo. Meanwhile, Jana Grcevich led people on a "Tour of the Cosmos" using the 3D wall. Finally, some remained in the lecture hall to listen to presentations about JWST and Kepler from Lauren Corlies and Yuan Li. Overall, it was a great start to the semester.

July 22: Gattaca

2011-07-22T22:01:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago we wrapped our summer science film series with the movie "Gattaca." Once again we had another good turn out for some sci-fi movie fun! Plus, we all had a chance to take a break from the oppressive heat of that week!

The movie centered on two main themes, genetic engineering and space travel, which mirrored both the debate in the late 90's on cloning and genetic engineering of humans and the launch of the Cassini-Huygens mission in October of 1997 (which was the release date of the movie!). After the movie, we talked about the scientific background behind genetic engineering and about the fact and fiction behind traveling to Saturn's moon Titan. Highlights of the talk included acknowledging the groundbreaking work done at Columbia, in the Fly Room, where fruit flies were used to understand genetic heredity. We also talked about the genetic engineering used today in making human insulin in bacteria. In regards to space travel, we dispelled the notion of going to Titan and back in one year and had a good discussion about future prospects in space propulsion - pointing to solar sails, ion rockets, and rail guns - a fitting discussion in light of the canceled shuttle program. I also pointed out that this movie is full of science which also includes nods to electric cars, solar energy, and genetic identification.

Two of our graduate students, Jana Grcevic and Christine Simpson, led the telescope viewing from the Low library plaza and Brandon Horn, also a grad student, helped out with movie setup. Thanks to everyone who came to watch, stayed to talk science, and gazed upon the heaven afterwards.

July 16, 2011: Family Astro: THE SUN

2011-07-16T16:33:00.000-04:00

Luckily the clouds stayed away for the Family Astro event on July 16th because the topic was "The Sun". About 10 kids and 10 parents attended the event. Our first activity was tracing our shadow with chalk. We did this once at the beginning of the event, and once two hours later at the end in order to see how the position changed due to the apparent movement of the Sun through the sky. We then made scale models of the Sun and Earth out of paper to show the extreme size difference and large distance between the Sun and the Earth. Next we made our own "UV detector" bracelets out of UV color changing beads (a.k.a. Solar Energy Beads) and tested them outside and in a plastic bag covered in sunscreen. Participants then wrapped a map of the Earth around themselves and rotated like the Earth does, and we shone a lamp on them to simulate the Sun's light. This illustrated the cause of night and day and showed how it can be daytime on one side of the Earth and nighttime on the other. Finally, Graduate Student Duane Lee gave the kids and their parents a peek through a special solar telescope, and gave a tour of the telescope dome on the roof. Thanks to the volunteers for making this event a success!

Contact: Science Fiction Film Series

2011-06-28T16:25:00.001-04:00

We had a nice crowd turn out for last week's showing of Contact, including a number of people for whom it was their first time at a Columbia Astronomy event. After the movie, we discussed the scientific background of wormholes (used as a transport mechanism in the movie), the difficulties of "listening to light" (as the Jody Foster character does numerous times), and used the Drake Equation to foster a discussion of how likely we are to actually detect alien life. After the main discussion, we had a lively discussion in the front of the lecture hall on Carl Sagan's views on religion and how those affect the movie he had a major role in writing and producing.

Summer Movie Night: The Fifth Element

2011-06-13T17:51:00.001-04:00

This past Friday, Columbia University's astronomy program hosted its second movie screening of the summer. 45 visitors came to watch *The Fifth Element * starring Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, and Gary Oldman. Afterwards, Jeff Andrews led a discussion of the both the scientific possibilities and inaccuracies of the film, as well as a discussion of Plato's four classical elements. The fifth element in the movie has obvious origins in Aristotle's addition of aether as an immutable, almost heavenly fifth element, which he derived from astronomical observations. Jeff finished with a brief discussion of how Einstein's theory of relativity affects space travel through time dilation.

In two weeks on June 24, Columbia's astronomy department will be showing another classical film, *Contact*, starring Jodie Foster. Contingent upon the weather, we will also have telescopes set up on campus to look at the most interesting targets in the summer night sky. Don't miss this screening or the discussion afterwards led by one of our post-doctorates, Hugh Crowl. Considering the relative scientific accuracy of this movie, it promises to be an exciting event!

Summer Astronomy Events

2011-06-08T15:23:00.003-04:00

Two events happened over the last two weeks involving Columbia Astronomy's Outreach Program.

First, on Friday May 27 at 7 pm, about 30 people came to this year's inaugural Science Fiction Movie Night. Due to the success of last year's program, this year, we're screening science fiction films in Pupin Hall that have astronomical themes. Our calendar for the summer can be seen here, and there will be four additional ones before August.

May 27's movie was Red Planet starring Val Kilmer. Graduate student Lia Corrales led the discussion after the film about the various aspects of science fiction and science fact found in the movie. The people in attendance generally gave her rave reviews, if not the film. After the film, a few astronomers set up a six-inch Dobsonian telescope on College Walk and gave out free views of Saturn.

Then, last Friday, June 3, a number of Columbia Astronomers took telescopes over to Brooklyn for a star party associated with the World Science Festival. Many members of the general public came out and looked through the telescope at various astronomical targets. Hundreds of people got a chance to see Saturn, so it certainly was a success. See pictures of it here.

Don't forget: this Friday, June 10, another blockbuster movie, "The Fifth Element" will be shown with astronomy graduate student Jeff Andrews leading a discussion on the science truth and falsehoods present in the film.

History of the Telescope

2011-05-08T13:33:00.000-04:00

This past Friday, Alex Smith explained the importance of the telescope on astronomy, and our perception of the universe. Galileo's use of the telescope to look at the moons of Jupiter and the phases of Venus helped to shift from a geocentric model to a heliocentric one. He next went on to explain how Edwin Hubble discovered a whole slew of other galaxies, each one of which contained billions of stars, further expanding the limits of the universe. Alex continued to describe the development of the telescope explaining the value of sending telescopes into space and the extreme galaxies on the outer edge of the universe that have been observed with the Hubble Space Telescope. Finally, he closed with comments on the abilities of the current and next generation of telescopes such as the James Webb Space Telescope to be able to detect planets that potentially harbor life.

After the lecture, Brandon Horn gave a tour of the galaxy and solar system on our 3D wall, while Christine Simpson gave a tour of the dome that houses our telescope on the roof. At the same time, Duane Lee and Jeff Andrews gave a discussion of the astronomy picture of the day in the main lecture hall.

Thanks to all the volunteers and the 100 people who attended Alex's lecture.

-Jeff

Solstices and Equinoxes

2011-05-07T15:14:00.000-04:00

Last night, a group of 15 elementary, home-school students and their parents visited the observatory for a discussion on how our Earth travels through the solar system and how we perceive these motions. Lia Corrales, Ian Allen and Cameron Hummels led an interactive activity which taught the kids about how the seasons, equinoxes, solstices, days and years are simply the results of how the earth rotates and orbits around the Sun. Ultimately, these topics related back to the students' lesson plan about Incan and Peruvian astronomy and how these people's used the equinox and solstice for the agricultural calendar. The students were very intelligent and had great questions on a variety of topics. Thanks to all of the participants!

--Cameron

April 29: PS 24 visit to the department

2011-04-29T11:30:00.002-04:00

Today, four astronomy students helped PS 24 students explore the sun and the moon and astronomical observations through telescopes. Students were treated to a lively activity session with graduate student Brandon Horn who showed them the relative sizes of the Earth and the Sun and explained how the Earth-Moon-Sun system worked. On the roof of Pupin, a clear morning helped the students get views of the sun through our solar telescope and the moon which was a thin sliver against the morning sky. The children also got to see how the dome worked and many said they'd like to come back on a Friday night to look through the telescopes at night.

Eclipses on a Friday Night.

2011-04-25T15:42:00.001-04:00

We had 104 visitors for the talk "Our Eclipsing Universe" by Laura
Vican. Laura began by talking about Lunar and Solar eclipses, and then
talked about stellar binary eclipses and how we can find new planets
using planetary transits. Unfortunately the skies were cloudy and so
observing couldn't occur, but Christine Simpson gave tours of the
domes, and Yuan Li showed a 3D movie about the Sun. Jia Liu gave a
slideshow about gravitational waves, and Jana Grcevich talked about
how the Earth got its water in honor of Earth Day. Many thanks to our
all female volunteer cast for making the evening a success!

Interacting Galaxies

2011-04-09T12:19:00.000-04:00

Last night, Hugh Crowl dazzled us with a lecture on interacting galaxies. He demonstrated how galaxies, like our own Milky Way, are social creatures living in clusters and groups. He showed how galaxies interact with their neighbors and what impact that these interactions had on the overall life of a galaxy, Galaxy-related NASA posters and bookmarks were given out to the attendees. We followed his talk with a 3D wall demonstration by Jeff Andrews, and a discussion of research going on in the department by Dr. Josh Peek and Cameron Hummels. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't cooperative, so we were unable to break out the telescopes and look at the sky; however, Erika Hamden led telescope tours for attendees interested in seeing the Rutherfurd Observatory.

Thanks to all of the 100 people who turned out for this great event!

--Cameron

March 28: A visit to PS 282 in Park Slope, Brooklyn

2011-03-28T16:31:00.001-04:00

Today, March 28, 2011, in the morning three Columbia University Astronomy Department graduate students and one undergraduate visited PS 282 in Brooklyn with two telescopes in tow. As the moon was a few days past third-quarter phase, it was possible to see both the sun and the moon! 120 first graders braved the cold and waited patiently for their turn to take a look at each of these celestial objects. Many of them had never looked through a telescope before and were very excited that they could see dark and light spots and even a few craters on the moon's surface as well as sunspots on the Sun. At the end of the visit, each class was presented with 3D images of the Sun, posters, and some CD-ROMs for distribution among the students.

Many thanks to the volunteers who made the trek out to another borough to help raise astronomy awareness.

March 25, 2011: Ancient East Asian Astronomy

2011-03-26T12:00:00.000-04:00

This past Friday we had an excellent lecture on ancient east Asian astronomy given by graduate student Joo Heon Yoon. The talk focused on ancient astronomical techniques from Joo's homeland of Korea. Joo described how modern astronomers and historians can use observations made by ancient astronomers to constrain both scientific models and historical theories.

Hazy weather obscured the view for most of the night, but our roof volunteers persevered and gave visitors views of M44, the Orion nebula and Sirius. Our roof volunteers Neil Zimmerman, Richard Darst, Bryan Terrazas, Dan D'Orazio and Ian Allen did a great job. Graduate student Yuan Li also showed visitors 3d visualizations astronomical topics spanning the universe from the solar system to the formation of large scale structure. A few people stuck around in the lecture hall for slide shows on star clusters and exoplanet detection led by Christine Simpson.

Thanks to all our volunteers and to the 120 people who came to our
event.

Christine

March 11, 2011: IceCube Astronomy

2011-03-14T12:33:00.002-04:00

On March 11, one of our senior undergraduates majoring in astrophysics, David Fierroz, gave a talk about a neutrino telescope that he worked on last summer, IceCube. David talked about how IceCube was built at the South Pole and he described the long trip to get there. About 150 visitors came by to hear how the telescope is opening up a new branch of astronomy, discovering objects in a completely new way. As arguably the largest telescope in the world, IceCube will be able to observe some of the most extreme phenomena in the universe including supernova, and supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies.

Afterwards, one of our incoming graduate students, Jia Liu, gave a talk about a standard day and night at Kitt Peak National Observatory. Also, one of our graduating students explained how Stellarium works and showed the conjunction of planets over the year. While the weather was not great enough to look at stars through the telescope, we were able to give tours of the telescope roof and dome, and even look at the moon.

Family Astro: Telescopes!

2011-03-09T12:35:00.003-05:00

We had over 50 people visit for Family Astro Saturday on March 5, 2011 including both children and parents. The topic was telescopes. The kids learned about different types of telescopes, including the Hubble space telescope and the way that astronauts fixed it. Then everyone got a chance to observe pictures they drew of objects in space through small telescopes. In one activity, kids pretended to be light moving at different speeds as it was being bent, just like it would be as it went through a lens. We also made models of telescopes using paper cups, and used balls of different sizes to show how different types of telescopes are able to catch different wavelengths of light. Finally, we watched a 3D movie about galaxies. Thanks to the volunteers, Jana, Jennifer, Lia, Brandon, and Yuan for helping out and making the event a success!

February 25, 2011: The Gamma-ray universe

2011-02-28T09:15:00.003-05:00

Last Friday, about 70 people attended a lecture by Dr. Rene Ong from UCLA about viewing the universe in gamma rays. Dr. Ong talked about the unique issues with observing the most highly energetic photons and also gave the audience a virtual tour of VERITAS, an array of four telescopes in Arizona that monitor the night skies for the Cherenkov radiation that emanates when extremely energetic photons collide with the atmosphere. A number of astronomical objects have already been detected by VERITAS and other telescopes around the world that are similar in design to it. These observations have complemented observations made by other gamma-ray observatories including a space-based gamma ray observatory that was launched two years ago: the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope. These observations are probing some of the most energetic environments of the universe and are giving us information about what the conditions are like in environments where there are extreme physical conditions including neutron stars, black holes, active galaxies and quasars, and microquasars.

After the lecture, the skies were unfortunately too cloudy to allow for observing, but a small tour did happen for those who wanted to see the facilities at least. Additionally, Columbia University graduate student, Duane Lee, gave a slideshow presentation featuring the images from Astronomy Picture of the Day. This website updates daily with a new image of astronomical import with an explanation written by a professional astronomer. Many astronomy enthusiasts mark the page as their homepage to give them a taste of astronomy every day when they log-on to their computers.

February 11, 2010: Galactic Sleuthing Lecture and Public Observing

2011-02-14T15:12:00.004-05:00

This past Friday, Dr. Allyson Sheffield, a current post-doc of the Columbia Astronomy department, gave a talk entitled, ''Galactic Sleuthing: Unraveling the Milky Way’s Past.'' In her talk, Allyson described two prevailing models for galactic formation. First, 'monolithic collapse' posits that a galactic-sized gas reservoir (of Hydrogen and Helium) collapses all at once, creating an old population halo of stars first and then flattens out into a disk composed of younger stars. Second, she presented the theory of 'hierarchical merging' that posits that galaxies are built up from the accretion of smaller galaxies and the merging of bigger ones.

Allyson then talked about how we can determine which scenario better describes the evolutionary path of our own galaxy by looking at both the group motions of stars and their shared chemical abundances. By showing us data and simulations by Rodrigo Ibata and his collaborators and by our very own Prof. Kathryn Johnston, respectively, she showed us how the merging Sagittarius dwarf galaxy was discovered by surveying stellar velocities in the galaxy along with models that describe how the dwarf galaxy would currently look which were later confirmed by additional chemical abundance observations.

Finally, she showed us how one can merge the two indicators of common ancestry to look at moving groups closer to us and determine if evidence for other accreted dwarf galaxy remnants remain in the galaxy by looking at the spectra of stars with similar peculiar velocities. She found that she could likely link certain groups to larger ones seen in the galactic halo stellar streams by models that would predict the location of these peculiar stars. Given her research and the other research she presented, we learned that merging plays a significant role in galaxy evolution and that one can recount this evolution based on remnants of past accretion events.

We had a great turn out and our attendees made full use of our facilities by watching astronomy visualizations on our 3-D wall, ran by graduate student Jana Grcevich, and by going to the roof to stargaze. It's cool to think that many of the stars we observed, including our own, exhibit group origins or movements that were probably even more defined in the past.

Thanks to the 8 volunteers and the 130 people who attended our lecture and observing night!

Sidewalk Astronomy returns to Harlem

2011-02-09T16:39:00.005-05:00

Freezing temperatures and fierce winds did not stop Alex, Jennifer, Brandon, and Neil from carrying on with stargazing plans at 125th street last night. Setting up two telescopes in front of an H+M store, they showed about 100 passersby a great view of the waxing crescent Moon. During the bus ride to the observing spot, Alex snapped a shot of the other volunteers and their scopes. All are looking forward to repeating the excursion on warmer evenings in the months ahead.

-Neil

Supernovae and Gamma-Ray Bursts!

2011-01-29T12:15:00.000-05:00

Last night we had a great outreach event featuring a talk by Dr. Maryam Modjaz. She captivated the audience with a lecture about some of the largest explosions in the Universe: gamma-ray bursts and supernovae. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't cooperative, so we weren't able to observe the night sky after the talk. We did offer telescope tours, a 3D wall demonstration of astrophysical phenomena and Yuan Li and Cameron Hummels offered several slideshows on exoplanets and the Winter sky.

Thanks to all 100 attendees for a successful evening of science!

--Cameron

Visit from Harlem Academy

2011-01-18T11:15:00.001-05:00

This morning, we had 15 students and three instructors from Harlem Academy tour the department. They were treated to a presentation on what's visible from the night sky, the observing on Kitt Peak National Observatory and a tour of the big dome. The students had enthusiastic and knowledgeable questions about astronomy and were treated to Hubble Posters and Trading Cards at the end of the event when they headed off to the American Museum of Natural History.

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

2011-01-14T22:00:00.000-05:00

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.

Total Lunar Eclipse

2010-12-22T11:39:00.006-05:00

New York was graced with a beautiful view of a full lunar eclipse last night. It was the first full lunar eclipse which has been visible here in almost 3 years, and there won't be another one we can see until April 2014. Consequently, Columbia Astronomy Outreach held a viewing event in the middle of Columbia's campus in front of the Alma Mater statue for anyone who wanted to come catch a glimpse.

The weather was clear but cold and windy (with windchill it reached 12F) last night. Our event was set to last from 1:30AM until 4:00AM, but there were already people present when we started setting up at 1:10AM. We set up several telescopes and binoculars for public use. We had one automated telescope and CCD combination to take images of the eclipse as it occurred. We also had a table with lots of hot cocoa and NASA swag (posters, bookmarks and the like) for anyone to take. Our volunteers answered any questions posed to them regarding eclipses, astronomy and the like.

The partial eclipse began at 1:33AM when the shadow of the Earth (the umbra) began covering the disk of the Moon. The Moon looked pretty strange as you witnessed a big bite being taken out of it, getting gradually larger with time. Throughout this period we had a huge influx of people such that the crowd grew to about 250. Most of the attendees were students walking through campus or taking a break from final exams, but probably about 25% of the crowd was made up of amateurs and members of the public.

Eventually at 2:41AM the shadow covered the Moon entirely, marking the beginning of the total phase of the eclipse. This phase was pretty spectacular--the disk of the moon was bathed in a deep reddish amber color. During totality, the Earth sits right in between the Sun and the Moon, so that most of the sunlight that normally illuminates the Moon is blocked by the Earth. However, some sunlight entering our atmosphere around the edges of the disk of the Earth can bend and refract and eventually make it to the Moon. This sunlight is effectively stripped of all blue light by our atmosphere (this is why our sky is blue) leaving only red light to shine on the Moon.

As you might guess, the hue and brightness of a total lunar eclipse is sensitively dependent on the material in the upper atmosphere of the Earth, since this is where the sunlight destined for the Moon must travel during an totality. Recent volcanic eruptions in Iceland and Indonesia have pumped lots of ash and particulate into the upper atmosphere. These small particles block all wavelengths of light (not just blue light), and it results in a darker overall eclipse. In fact, this was the darkest lunar eclipse I've seen in the last 15 years.

The crowd got pretty enthusiastic about totality with cheers at several point, a shouted countdown ("9, 8, 7,...") at another point, and just general excitement. After about 20 minutes of totality, half of the crowd dispersed and went back to studying or sleep, but there were still a hundred people or so who remained.

There were a few different media crews present including a Japanese television crew, a New York Times photographer, and a few independent media groups. Photographs taken from our event (see above) were included in a New York Times article on the eclipse. Later that morning, I was interviewed by NPR's "The Takeaway" along with Neil deGrasse Tyson regarding the eclipse and our event.

Totality lasted until 3:53AM, when the shadow of the Earth receded and the Moon began its return to full brightness. The second partial phase (where again the Moon has a "bite" taken out of it) lasted until 5:01AM. At the very end, there were still a couple dozen diehards still present trying to get the perfect picture or just enjoy the moment with a hot cup of chocolate. Overall, the event was a great success with mostly clear weather and around 300 participants. Thanks to everyone who joined us!

--Cameron

Earth's Moon

2010-12-18T14:13:00.001-05:00

Dr. Arlin Crotts gave an exciting lecture on the topic of the Moon last night. He is currently writing a popular science book on the Moon to be released in the next six months. After a brief history of the space race and the various exploration attempts made by different countries, he discussed the more recent results indicating the presence of water and various organic molecules. Lastly, he mentioned the future of lunar exploration and that the key players may not include the USA.

The weather started out hazy but cleared up after 30 minutes, giving us good views of Jupiter, the Double Cluster, the Pleiades and of course the Moon. There were 3D wall presentations for visitors as well as an informal Q&A session with Josh Schroeder and Cameron Hummels on a variety of astrophysical topics.

Thanks to all of the 100 attendees who turned out for an excellent night of astronomy.

--Cameron

Forming Stars and Forming Life

2010-12-04T12:10:00.000-05:00

Last night, Dr. Daniel Wolf Savin delighted our audiences with a public talk entitled: "The Genesis Projects: Forming Stars to Forming Life". He discussed his recent experiments to categorize the abundance of molecules in the early universe which aided in the creation of the first population of stars. He also talked about the creation of more complex molecules later in the Universe and how these organic molecules set the stage for the development of life here on Earth and perhaps elsewhere. It was a great lecture, and we had such a large audience that not all of them could sit in the 260-seat lecture hall.

While the weather forecast had called for cloudy weather, it ended up clearing part of the way through the night, providing us with an opportunity to observe the heavens. We set up 4 telescopes to observe The Pleiades, The Double Cluster and Jupiter. Unfortunately there were such large crowds that it some people a bit of time to get a glimpse through a telescope.

In addition, Brandon Horn led a discussion of the recent news of bacteria that appears able to replace its internal phosphorus molecules with arsenic molecules. This is noteworthy because it has been held that phosphorus is a molecule necessary for life, so this may mean there is a much larger variety of conditions suitable for life than previously thought.

Jana Grcevich operated the 3D wall upstairs giving audiences a 3D experience in looking at the sky and the things we find in it.

Overall, it was a great night with record-breaking numbers of attendees: over 350! Thanks to everyone for coming out!

--Cameron

Family Astro: Black Holes!

2010-11-22T14:41:00.002-05:00

Seven kids and about 10 adults visited the Columbia Astronomy department for an afternoon full of activities designed to teach about Black Holes. First we had a talk explaining that black holes are areas which are so dense nothing can move fast enough to escape out of them. We also learned that black holes are the remains of massive stars which have died. We had a demonstration using stretchy fabric and heavy balls of how gravity is a result of space curving, and put ping pong balls on orbits. We also talked about the extreme densities of black holes what would happen if you fell into a black hole.

Public Observing and Lecture: November 12, 2010

2010-11-13T12:39:00.000-05:00

Columbia University Astronomy PhD candidate Taka Tanaka presented an excellent lecture on colliding black holes to a packed lecture theatre of particularly enthusiastic visitors. Afterwards record numbers stayed for stargazing and slideshows.

October 29 Outreach Report

2010-11-08T16:17:00.000-05:00

Postdoc Josh Peek gave an excellent lecture on Friday, October 29,
titled "Outer Space" to about 250 visitors. We took a tour of space
near to us and far away as Josh proved outer space isn't just "space"
but rather that most of the atoms in the universe are in the form of
soot and gas hiding in between planets, stars, and galaxies. The
audience was treated to pictures and explanations of the many forms
this matter can take. These include cold clumps of gas and dust which
block out the light coming from behind them and can sometimes form new
stars, as well as hot gas in clusters which can rip a galaxy's gas
right out of it. After the lecture many people were able to observe
Alberio, the double cluster, and Jupiter and four of it's moons. In
addition to observing, guests were also able to watch a 3D wall
presentation on Mars by Cameron Hummels, or to watch the film Cosmic
Collisions. Thanks to all our visitors and to all the volunteers for a
great night!

Astronomy Public Lecture: Oct. 15

2010-10-18T10:42:00.000-04:00

Professor Kathryn Johnston gave a great lecture on Friday, October 17, about how galaxies collide with each other. With the help of simulations and a comparison to observations she explained that collisions among galaxies are common in the universe, commenting that many galaxies are in fact expected to be the remnants of galaxy mergers billions of years ago. Applying these concepts to our own galaxy, she presented some of her own research searching in the Milky Way for the tell-tale signs of recent galactic mergers: tidal streams. While in fact, through careful astronomy, we do see several tidal streams, Prof. Johnston showed that, through simulations, we expect our galaxy to merge with dozens of smaller, dwarf galaxies. She ended the talk with a video showing a simulation of what is expected to happen in a few billion years when our galaxy collides with our closest major galactic neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy.

Unfortunately, the weather was cloudy so no observing was possible, but one of our graduate students, Jana Grcevich, displayed 3D videos with our dual projector setup. Another graduate student, Josh Schroeder, took visitors on a tour of our telescopes and explained their history. We also had two mini-lectures about techniques used to find planets in other solar systems, and planetary nebulae. From the 120+ visitors that enjoyed Kathryn's talk, we received a great deal of excitement to come back in the future, especially during clear weather. Thanks also, to the 5+ volunteers that made the event possible!

Yeshiva University Outreach

2010-10-12T15:21:00.002-04:00

On October 7 at 7:30 pm, about 30 students from the Chemistry Clubs at Yeshiva University visited the Astronomy Department to get a tour of the heavens. Graduate student, Jana Grcevic gave a presentation on color and chemistry of the heavens as well as a view of our 3D movie theater. Then, we proceeded up to the roof to get views of Jupiter, Alberio, and the Ring Nebula.

Harlem Science Fair

2010-10-09T12:09:00.001-04:00

125th St & Powell Blvd on October 2nd

October 1: The History of Martian Exploration

2010-10-02T14:07:00.000-04:00

On the 1st of October Jeff Andrews presented a talk on the history of Martian exploration. The crowd were very receptive and interested and the majority of the hundred or so, stayed for the entire nights activities. While there were a few technical and practical glitches, the crew were able to improvise their way to solutions. Special mention should go to Yuan and Brandon for going above and beyond their roles.

The crowd responded well to the background music played before the event during the introductory slideshow explaining the program for the night. I think that this is a nice professional touch that should be continued. Observing was very successful on the roof, as were the two informal presentations in the lecture theatre.

Black Hole Beats and Fresh Autumn Stars

2010-09-21T19:21:00.002-04:00

This past Friday (Sep 17) we held an exciting lecture by Professor Janna Levin. She explained the amazing consequences of merging black holes as dictated by General Relativity. The disruptions in spacetime generated by these encounters produce a bizarre kind of music that we may finally tune into with the next generation of gravitational wave detectors.

Following the lecture, most of the audience headed up to the roof of Pupin to take in the beautifully clear evening sky. While volunteers offered the usual celestial close-up views through three telescopes (showing the Moon, Jupiter, Uranus, and the Double Cluster), Josh gave tours of the newly visible Autumn constellations, and down in the lecture hall three more volunteers narrated a remote observing session with a telescope in the Canary Islands.

By all accounts it was a great start to our new season of Friday night events.

-Neil

Sept. 3: Frits Paerels Talk and Remote Observing

2010-09-03T22:30:00.000-04:00

On Friday, Sept. 3 some 140 people attended a lecture by Dr. Frits Paerels about missing matter in the universe. Dr. Paerels described how astronomers came to understand that most of the matter in the universe was unaccounted for. Showing beautiful images of clusters of galaxies and simulations of the large-scale structure of the universe, Dr. Paerels described how only 4% of the universe was made out of normal matter and how fully 50% of it hasn't yet been detected.

After this great talk, we were treated to a remote observation by graduate students Neil Zimmerman and Andrew Brown who imaged Stephan's Quintet using the website slooh.com. These observations were a big hit with our regular visitors. Other newcomers were treated to a tour of the observatory on the roof with an exhortation to return soon!

2010-08-03T12:22:00.000-04:00

This past Friday, recent graduate of the Columbia Astronomy doctoral program, Stephanie Tonnesen, gave a talk entitled, "Hubble Deep Field: Looking back in Time." In her talk, Stephanie gave us a detailed background on the nature of the Hubble Deep (HDF) and Ultra Deep fields (UHDF). She also gave us a sense of just how difficult an exposure of 150+ hours is in low Earth orbit due to the glare of the Sun. However, the biggest problem in terms of getting a great picture of the past was finding a patch of sky where few Milky Way stars existed. Too many foreground stars would actually outshine the very distant, and hence, faint galaxies that were the precise interest of that survey.

After showing us great pictures of these galaxies, Stephanie went on to explain the why astronomers are so interested in objects whose features we can barely make out. One main question addressed in the HDF & UHDF pictures is, "How do galaxies form?" Stephanie pointed that there are two main theories for galaxy formation: monolithic collapse and hierarchical merging. In monolith collaspe, different- sized gas clouds collapse due to self-gravity and form tight clumps of stars and/or stellar disks that constitute galaxies. In hierarchical merging smaller galaxies merger together to form larger galaxies that then feed off of remaining smaller satellite galaxies to grow. Occassionally these galaxies would run into another massive galaxy to form elliptical galaxies.

One observational fact that Stephanie pointed out that may favor monolithic collapse (at least in the early universe) is that the light Hubble observes in the visible here was redshifted from the ultraviolet (UV) light emitted from the HDF/UHDF galaxies. She showed us a UV picture of a nearby galaxy and we found that the picture looks clumpy due to the clusters of young star formation in the galaxy. Since massive blue stars in young star clusters emit predominately in the UV, could it be that the "blue dots" that we originally claimed to be merging proto-galaxies are actually starbursts in a single galaxy?

The audience asked many questions about galaxy formation and about the prospect of sorting the "blue dots" issue out. Stephanie explained that telescopes like James Webb and other projects will target visible light from these galaxies in the infrared (IR) to possibly solve this issue. This issue also highlighted why astronomers try to view objects by collecting all wavelengths from the electromagnetic spectrum. Once again, our speaker fielded a myriad of good questions from our audience and we ended our Q&A session only in the interest of observing time.

Thanks to the 7 volunteers and the 85+ people who attended our lecture and observing night!

Astronauts and Moon Landings

2010-07-17T21:26:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, we provided a free screening of the film Apollo 13 to an audience of around 120. Erika Hamden and Cameron Hummels introduced the film with a short history of the Space Race along with a few definitions of some jargon terms that were used in the film (e.g. burn, gimbal lock, LEM). The film lasted about 2:20, and the auditorium thermostat seemed broken so the audience got an accurate experience of how cold it was in the broken command module of Apollo 13.

After the film, Erika and Cameron spoke for 20 minutes about how scientifically accurate the film was (very), and then discussed what broke in the actual Apollo 13 service module and why. They presented information about the remainding days of the Apollo program and the followup Shuttle program. Lastly, they gave information on how to go see the remaining shuttle launches and tips for youngsters on how to become an astronaut.

Unfortunately, the sky was cloudy, so we were unable to observe. NASA swag of Hubble Space Telescope photos and stickers for the HST-servicing mission were given out to audience members.

Thanks to everyone who turned out!

--Cameron

Supernovae Lecture and Stargazing: July 2, 2010

2010-07-06T16:36:00.002-04:00

This past Friday, recent post-baccalaureate of the Columbia Astronomy program, Nicholas Hunt-Walker, gave a talk entitled, “Supernovae: Going out with a Bang!” In his talk, Nick gave a clear overview of the main points of stellar evolution that lead up to two different types of supernovae: mass-accretion and core-collapse. He told us that mass-accretion type supernovas (also known as Type Ia) arise from binary systems where one star has already gone through all of the evolutionary phases, becoming a hot, dense stellar remnant, called a white dwarf. The other star, being less massive at birth, takes longer to evolve, eventually becoming a red giant star. When this occurs, the red giant star becomes so puffed up that its outer layers are close enough to the white dwarf companion that it becomes more gravitationally attracted to it. Thus, the white dwarf starts to siphon off the envelope of the red giant star and forms an accretion disk around itself. When enough matter has piled on the white dwarf it ignites thermonuclear burning in its core again. However, since it no longer has an envelope of mass around the core like a normal star, it can’t contain the increase in pressure and temperature and thus ignition becomes a runaway event that blows the white dwarf apart!

The second type of supernova (also called Type II) comes from the core collapsing in a massive star that is capable of fusing Hydrogen in its core up to Iron. Once this occurs, the star can no longer create enough energy in the core to support the many solar masses of matter above it. In seconds the star implodes on its self and then blows apart, usually leaving a neutron star or black hole behind. Nick received a myriad of good questions about the particulars of these processes and he patiently responded to everyone who asked.

He then went on to show us many beautiful examples of supernova remnants and how you can tell the difference between the type of supernova that created them from the characteristics of the remnants themselves. One good example of the observational difference is that a core-collapse supernova can have a compact stellar remnant in its center whereas a mass-accretion supernova can’t since the central object is totally destroyed! Nick also told us why we view the spectra of these remnants in different wavelengths like the X-Ray, Radio, and Optical. He explained that with this data we can better figure out what the progenitor star was made of and how and when it exploded.

Finally, Nick shared some historical accounts of famous supernova like the Crab supernova, seen by Chinese and Arab astronomers in 1054, and Tyco Brahe’s supernova, seen by, well, the man himself, in 1572. There continued to be many good questions from the audience about supernovae and their remnants. It was only in the interest of time for observations on the roof that the Q&A session ended.

We had a great turn out and our attendees made full use of our facilities by watching astronomy visualizations on our 3-D wall, ran by graduate student Yuan Li, and by going to the roof to stargaze. It’s cool to think that some of the stars we observed will be become supernovae in the future.

Thanks to the 9 volunteers and the 140+ people who attended our lecture and observing night!

Visitors from Manhattan East School

2010-06-23T16:00:00.000-04:00

Today, we had a visit from the Astronomy Club of Manhattan East for the Arts and Academics in East Harlem, NY. A few of the graduate students presented several interactive activities for the club, including a solar-system walk, solar observing, an observatory tour, and a 3D flight through the Universe. In addition, we fielded several questions they had about astronomy, physics, science and college life. They were a great group of kids, and we were happy to have them here!

Thanks to all 15 of our visitors and the 4 volunteers who put this on.

--Cameron

Time Machine: June 18

2010-06-21T09:37:00.002-04:00

The free screening of H.G. Wells classic tale “The Time Machine” (1960) drew around 45 viewers this Friday. Following this movie, graduate student Jennifer Weston led a discussion about the film with the audience, and talked about some of the implications of time travel and the ideas behind it.

Some of the topics covered included: Discussing what humans will be like in 800,000 years, with a review of how we’ve changed in the past 800,000 years. We concluded that while the human race could potentially split into two very different species, our time traveler would NOT be able to speak perfect English with them.

How to resolve the apparent paradoxes of time travel. Multiple time lines and predestination were thought to be some possible ways to prevent paradoxes when you attempt to kill your own grandfather. We also introduced the concept of closed time-like curves.

After this, we had an overview of the physics of traveling through time. We reviewed some of the background for Special and General Relativity, light cones, and black holes. Finally, we outlined how one might build a time machine with wormholes and cosmic strings.

Following the movie, telescopes were set up outside on College Walk, manned by a number of students. Passersby were able to see close up views of the beautiful quarter moon, and the planets Mars, Venus, and Saturn, and the stars Arcturus, Mizar and Alcor. Over the course of a bit more than an hour, about 90 people came by to take advantage of the clear night. Thanks to everyone who attended and to those who volunteered!

From Physics 101 to Pigeons

2010-06-05T12:44:00.002-04:00

Around 60 people attended our first event of the summer -- a free screening of The Core. Afterwards graduate student Lia Corrales guided the audience in a discussion around two major topics:

(1) Where does the earth’s electromagnetic field come from?
We reviewed the “Physics 101” of generating magnetic fields. We debunked the idea that simple rotation generates the earth’s magnetic field, and explained how much energy it would take to ‘stop’ or ‘reverse’ the rotation. We reviewed some of the scientific research showing that the earth’s magnetic field can have a complicated interior, can change over time, and occasionally switches polarity.

(2) What effect does the electromagnetic field have on life?
We discussed what solar wind does and does not contain, as referenced in the film. The highlight of the evening was the discussion centered on pigeons! We reviewed the scientific article showing that pigeons could sense magnetic fields. However, we also learned that pigeons used landmarks like roads to navigate. We concluded that a change in the earth’s magnetic field would not be enough to disorient pigeons into a kamikaze death dive, but would be enough to force them to ask for directions on the way home.

Unfortunately, the cloudy sky prevented telescope viewing for the night. Fortunately, the summer series of events got off to a great start, thanks to all the people who attended and our five volunteers!

Photographing Extra-Solar Planets

2010-05-08T14:13:00.002-04:00

Despite forecasts for bad weather last night, we got some relatively good skies and views of M3 (a globular cluster of stars), Alcor & Mizar (a binary pair of stars in the Big Dipper), and Saturn. There was a wonderful lecture by Anand Sivaramakrishnan, the chief instrumentation engineer at the Museum of Natural History, on the topic of directly imaging extrasolar planets using interferometry. He discussed a new way in which to observe with modern optical and infrared telescopes which provides more information about planetary companions of stars than other methods. This new technique is currently being used on the Gemini telescope and will soon be used on the James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble's successor.

To follow up on the lecture, we showed a couple of short films on various aspects of stars, including the new program: "Journey to the Stars." Additionally, we had a few informal lessons from Jia Liu and Jennifer Weston regarding "Stars" and "Comets and Meteor Showers" to celebrate the Eta Aquarids meteor shower going on last night. There was some NASA poster swag for everyone to take.

Thank you to the 8 volunteers and 75 attendees last night!

April 23: Public Lecture and Stargazing

2010-04-26T13:53:00.002-04:00

A beautiful clear night encouraged nearly 100 people to venture to Rutherfurd Observatory where we first hear from Prof. David Helfand about reconstructing cosmic history, atom by atom. Dr. Helfand's talk detailed how the nuclei of atoms could be used to track events in prehistory from the changes in our planet's ecosystem to the very origins of the universe. This engaging talk was a condensed version of his popular Teaching Company series of lectures.

After the fantastic lecture, we heard from graduate student Jana Grcevic about the 20th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope. The skies were clear and we got great views of the moon, Mars, Saturn, M13, and other targets that are often difficult to see from Manhattan without the aid of a telescope. All in all, a spectacular evening.

Sidewalk Astronomy in Harlem

2010-04-22T10:25:00.003-04:00

On Tuesday evening a small group of astronomy students set up telescopes outside the Magic Johnson cinema at 124th & Douglass Blvd. Amidst the mild weather we had an easy time surprising people on the sidewalk with close-up views of the Moon, Mars, and Saturn. About 150 people stopped for a look over the course of two hours. The above photo, taken by Laura Vican, shows Jennifer Weston pointing out Saturn to a new stargazer. The organizers aim to repeat the success of this outing once a month.

Radio Astronomy Lecture at Pupin Hall: Friday April 9.

2010-04-13T13:14:00.001-04:00

The public lecture event from 8 to 10pm on Friday, April 9th, was both informative and entertaining. About 70 people attended the lecture by Grad Student Destry Saul entitled "Hearing Cosmic Static: The Accidental and Amateur Birth of Radio Astronomy". Destry explained how Carl Jansky at AT&T's Bell Labs serendipitously made the first detection of radiowaves from distant galactic sources while conducting telegraph R&D. He also explained why astronomers were slow to grasp the importance of this new sub-field of astronomy and how it took a decade after for a radio enthusiaist, Grote Reber, to reinvestigate Jansky's findings and properly establish the field of radio astronomy. The different interests that Reber maintained, in addition to radio, and the scientific fervor that he brought to his studies really reflected the true spirit and enjoyment that scientists have when they love their work. Finally, Destry was nice enough to show us some cutting edge radio research that he and his team at Columbia are working on.

Unfortunately, the weather was uncooperative so it wasn't possible to observe but our 13th floor classroom was once again pressed into full service with Ryan Jong, a post-doc, running our 3-D wall. He showed a number of 3-D animations and simulations of galaxy mergers, formation, and of the cosmic web of galaxies in the universe. Our lecture was also followed up by tours of our observatory and telescopes and by a couple of slide shows in the lecture hall.

Public Lecture and Stargazing: March 26, 2010

2010-03-30T13:39:00.002-04:00

Tonight's event from 8 to 10pm on Friday, March 26th, was a great time for everyone. Over 60 people attended a lecture by Grad Student Yuan Li entitled "Shaping Galaxies with Supermassive Black Holes". Yuan discussed first what a black hole is, and then explained how SMBHs are almost always found at the center of galaxies. She explained the M-sigma relation in an amazingly understandable way and provided some ideas about what might cause this correlation, including a great movie of a galaxy merger. Yuan's lecture was interesting and elicited a huge number of questions from the people in attendance.

The weather was hazy, with views of Mars and the Moon. Later in the evening it cleared up a little more, and Mizor and Alchor were observed as well. The 13th floor classroom was put to new use with a movie screening by Lia Corrales of Tyler Noerdgen's investigation of the night sky in national parks. A compelling section of his work, called "Sky Above, Earth Below" , which details light pollution at so-called dark sky sights, was shown.

We got some press coverage of last night's event. Read it now in the Columbia Spectator.

March 5, 2010: Gamma-ray bursts

2010-03-08T16:32:00.002-05:00

We had an exciting evening on Friday March 5 from 7 to 9 pm with about 60 visitors to Pupin Hall and Rutherfurd Observatory. John Ruan, a Columbia College Senior in the Department of Astronomy (going on to graduate school next year) gave a fantastic lecture about gamma-ray bursts. Among the most amusing anecdotes he gave was the number of Coca-colas all of humanity would need to drink over the age of the universe in order to equal the amount of energy given off by one gamma-ray burst. The answer was a number too large to count in your lifetime!

Although it was hazy, the skies were clear enough to get a peak at Mars. The Red Planet is on a close approach to the Earth right now (an event that happens approximately once every two years) and so our view of it is getting to be pretty good. Even a small pair of binoculars can reveal that it is a disk and a moderately powered telescope can resolve the white polar ice caps! Definitely worth a look.

Exoplanet Hunting Techniques!

2010-02-20T13:20:00.001-05:00

Summer Ash gave an amazing talk last night entitled: "Galactic Planet Hunting." She discussed the different techniques astronomers are using to find planets outside of our solar system, from looking at the wobble of the planet's host star, to looking at the drop of light that occurs when a planet eclipses its host star, and finally to looking for the planet directly. Additionally, we gave away some NASA swag, we had the 3D wall show and a flythrough the Solar System, and we had a few slideshows (Astronomy Picture of the Day and the discovery of water on the Moon).

Unfortunately, the weather was uncooperative. It was clear when the lecture began but quickly became totally overcast for the observing period. However, we were able to give several groups of people a tour of the telescopes along with some history and background as to how they work.

Thanks to the 100 attendees and several volunteer graduate students!

--Cameron

Brown Dwarfs and 3D Mars on a cloudy night

2010-02-08T17:39:00.006-05:00

Though the clouds kept us from observing the heavens, we had a delightful time from 7 to 9 pm Friday, February 5, 2010 learning about brown dwarf stars from Dr. Emily Rice of the American Museum of Natural History in a half hour lecture. Dr. Rice explained how brown dwarfs were first hypothesized and discovered and what we could expect with new missions including the WISE spacecraft for finding more of these enigmatic objects. She believes that it is likely there is a brown dwarf closer to us than Proxima Centauri (the second closest star to us after the Sun) that hasn't been discovered yet, but will be with WISE. Watch the news for exciting announcements coming from this mission which has been flying for almost two months now.

Additionally, we had a wonderful 3D-tour of Mars led by our own graduate student, Jana Grcevich using new 3D-display technology in our 1322 Pupin theater. These trips through 3-dimensional space are getting to be a real hit with those who attend our outreach events. If you haven't been in a while, consider coming and experiencing it for yourself!

Family Astro Day will be happening in two weeks February 20th from 5 to 7 pm. The theme this time will be "EXOPLANETS: The Search For Planets Outside Our Solar System". The program is designed for families with children aged 6 to 12. Space is limited, though, so please e-mail us to RSVP.

Extraterrestrial Life and The 3D Wall

2010-01-23T15:11:00.001-05:00

Friday, January 22nd kicked off our spring public lecture series and stargazing nights. First we had an excellent lecture by Neil Zimmerman entitled The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence in the 21st Century. Neil talked about the Drake Equation, the SETI program, and the various ways astronomers search for intelligence in space using radio scans, laser scans, and more. He then discussed upcoming SETI projects involving the Allen Telescope Array and the Square Kilometer Array.

Since the weather was clear, we were able to observe on the roof after the lecture. Targets included Mars, the first-quarter Moon, the Pleaides, and the Orion Nebula. In addition, there were slideshows held on how stars work and the diversity of galaxies in the Universe.

We had a new treat for visitors last night: 3D visualizations of galaxies, the Orion Nebula and a fly-over Mars using our state-of-the-art 3D wall. Visitors were lent 3D glasses for a fully immersive astronomy experience. We intend to hold this fairly frequently during our star-gazing sessions.

Thanks to all the 140 attendees and 10 volunteers who showed up!

--Cameron

Moon Highlights

2010-01-22T15:06:00.001-05:00

On Thursday January 21st, we hosted Columbia University's Treasury Department for an hour and a half of discussion and observations. First we taught the 12 or so attendees about the recent discovery of water on the moon. We detailed the nature of these discoveries and the implications they have for future space exploration and extraterrestrial life. Then we went up to the roof to take advantage of the cloud-free night. The Orion Nebula, the Pleaides and the first-quarter Moon were all visible.

--Cameron

Telescopes and Children

2010-01-16T13:42:00.012-05:00

On Friday, we hosted about 26 first and second graders, plus two fifth graders, from the EP1 public school.  Lia Corrales and Nick Hunt-Walker were the two graduate student volunteers for this group.  The visit lasted from 11 am to about 12:45 pm.

A lot of the session was based on telescopes.  The kids were asked to draw a picture or write their name on a piece of paper, which we taped to a wall on the opposite end of the hallway.  Then they looked at the pictures through a galileoscope to see how the image was flipped upside-down.  We showed them how the lenses flipped the image using an optics bench demonstration.  We then gave them a tour of the observatory and explained to them the difference between a refracting (lense) telescope and a reflecting (mirror) telescope.  Finally, we gave them a slide show of solar system pictures and answered their questions.  The children sang us a song before leaving.

Overall, it went well because the kids were enthusiastic (and adorable).  One thing that would have made it better would have been using tripods with the galileoscopes.  It was difficult to keep them steady enough for the kids to look through.  An adult ended up steadying each using the back of a chair so that kids could look, so it took a long time to get through that portion of the activity.

- Lia -

2012 and the end of the IYA

2009-12-05T12:12:00.002-05:00

Last night was our last public lecture of the International Year of Astronomy. Cameron Hummels gave a talk on Will the World End in 2012? and the short answer to take away from his lecture was no, it will not. Cameron discussed some of the claims that are floating around about various ways in which the world/civilization could come to an end in 3 years time on December 21, 2012, and then he proceeded to scientifically debunk each claim with solid facts.

Following the lecture, we gave away 2 Galileoscopes as well as a few hundred NASA image posters to audience members. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't cooperative, so we were unable to view the winter sky, but we offered telescope tours of our facilities, and we had several slideshows on astronomical themes. Josh Schroeder discussed stars and their interiors, and then Andrew Brown presented a talk on the skies of the Southern Hemisphere--how they differ from ours and some visual highlights.

Lastly, there was a visiting schoolgroup of 50 middle school students from New Rochelle who had a special private discussion with some of our volunteers as part of the Rooftop Variables project.

All in all the event was our most successful cloudy outreach event with 250 attendees and more than 10 volunteers. Thank you everyone for helping us to close out the International Year of Astronomy with a bang!

--Cameron

Sidewalk Astronomy in Harlem

2009-11-25T12:03:00.006-05:00

Yesterday evening the weather turned in our favor at the 11th hour, giving us a brief window in a week of dreary overcast skies. With a 6" telescope, Jess and I showed people the Moon and Jupiter from our usual corner, the plaza at 125th St & Powell Blvd. The landscape of craters and mountains, so dramatic in the first-quarter moon phase, made a big impression on the 70 or so people who stopped to have a look. Many were excited to hear about Cameron's lecture coming up on Dec 4th about the myth of the 2012 apocalypse, so hopefully we'll see some of those faces again next week.

-Neil

Gravitational Waves & Black Holes

2009-11-21T16:42:00.001-05:00

Last night we had a good turnout for Professor Szabolcs Marka's lecture on gravitational waves and black holes entitled: "A Matter of Life and Death: How Black Holes Do It." Szabi gave a good introduction to gravitational waves and some of the expected strong sources of gravitational waves in the Universe. He finished up by talking about the various projects for actually observing gravitational waves and the difficulties in doing so.

Afterwards, we gave away a Galileoscope to a lucky member of the audience, and we provided some cool NASA swag to the attendees. The weather was mostly cooperative, so attendees had the option of going up to the roof to get views of the Pleaides and Jupiter, or sticking around in the lecture hall to hear a couple of mini-lectures and slideshows. Cameron Hummels explained the science behind the discovery of water on the Moon along with the most recent results from LCROSS that came out last week. Josh Schroeder discussed the basics of spiral galaxies and fielded questions on all kinds of astrophysical topics.

Thank you to all 8 volunteers and the 130 audience members who showed up for this event!

--Cameron

Fourth-graders experience Meteors

2009-11-20T16:22:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, we were visited by a fourth-grade class from the Children's School of Brooklyn (P.S. 372). Together we went through several educational activities on the theme of "Comets, Asteroids and Meteors" to commemorate the Leonid Meteor Shower this week. We produced a small slideshow and discussed the differences between comets, asteroids and meteors. The students then created sandbox craters to discover the relationship between impactor size, speed and consequent crater size. We made a dry-ice comet out of household materials and demonstrated why it gets a tail as it falls into the inner solar system.

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't clear so we couldn't do any solar observations, but the students did get to see the telescopes, observe nearby Riverside Church, and see how different telescopes work. Lastly, we discussed how we, the graduate students got our start in astronomy and science, and what the children could do at this young age to pursue science and mathematics. All in all, it was very successful, and I thank the class and teachers for their visit!

--Cameron

Fall Family Astro with Comets and Meteors

2009-11-15T19:03:00.001-05:00

This semester's Family Astro on Saturday, November 14th was the messiest yet.  We started off by telling families about the Leonids meteor shower, which has been taking place over the last few days.  We showed kids how comets can leave behind trails of debris, which hit the earth.  Jana Grcevich made a model comet out of dry ice and showed how it can crack and emit gas when it warms up.  Lia Corrales then talked about different types of meteorites and guided the kids in making a model meteorite out of cookie dough.  Yuan Li and Jennifer Weston had kids throw objects into powder to simulate the formation of craters.  Unfortunately, the weather was too wet to make any telescope observations.  Andrew Brown wrapped up by giving families a tour of the observatory, followed by a slide show about light and telescopes.  Families who felt inclined stayed for the last 20 minutes to watch Cosmic Collisions.  Approximately 17 children and their families were present at the event.

- Lia -

Micrometeorites and Clear Weather

2009-11-07T09:32:00.001-05:00

Last night we had some beautiful weather for stargazing to accompany Lia Corrales' lecture entitled: "Meteorites: The Extraterrestrials in your Backyard." Lia talked about micrometeorites, very small particles originating in outer space which rain onto the surface of the Earth every day in significant amounts (estimated at 20,000 tons / year). She discussed ways where these come from, why they're important, and how you can find them in your own backyard. We followed her talk with a Galileoscope giveaway and lots of free NASA CDs for attendees.

We then opened up the telescopes for the attendees, both on the Roof and in front of Pupin. We observed Jupiter, the Owl Cluster (aka the ET Cluster), and the Andromeda Galaxy. Attendees also had the option of sticking around the lecture hall to see one of our various slideshows, watch Cosmic Collisions, or ask astronomers their burning questions at our Q&A. Overall it was one of our most successful nights of the year with over 200 people showing up to take advantage of this beautiful observing conditions.

--Cameron

Visit from Manhattan School for Children

2009-10-30T16:03:00.001-04:00

Last night we had a group of 250 children and their parents from the Manhattan School for Children visit the observatory. After distributing some NASA swag to all of the children in the audience, we got started. We had a thirty-minute talk about what makes asteroids, comets and meteors different from one another, and how you can identify them in the sky. After some great questions from some of the elementary-school students in the audience, we showed a video of a NASA shuttle launch from last year along with footage of the crew aboard the shuttle while it was in orbit.

The second hour was meant to give the children views of the first-quarter Moon, Jupiter, and Albireo through our telescopes. Unfortunately, the weather was uncooperative, and clouds covered most of the sky. We made the best of the situation with demonstrations of how reflecting telescopes work and views of nearby buildings through our telescopes on the roof and in front of the observatory. At the very end, the Moon peeked through some clouds to give a few remaining attendees views of its craters and mountains.

Thank you to Shakira Castronovo from MSC for helping to organize this event. I invite all the attendees to come to one of our public nights when hopefully the weather will be more cooperative!

--Cameron

Sidewalk Astronomy in Harlem

2009-10-28T18:32:00.001-04:00

On Monday night, Jeff and I brought a small telescope from the Columbia astronomy department to the corner of Powell Boulevard & 125th Street. After setting up the 'scope next to the statue of Adam Clayton Powell Jr., we invited everyone walking by to stop and have a look at the first-quarter Moon and Jupiter. It was the third time this year that Columbia astronomers have coordinated "sidewalk astronomy" for our neighboring community. As before, none of the hundred or so people who stopped to take in the view regretted the interruption. Our next sidewalk astronomy attempt will be November 23-24.

-Neil

Black Holes

2009-10-24T14:54:00.001-04:00

Yesterday Gabe Perez-Giz, one of the senior PhD students in the department who does research on black hole dynamics, taught us all a little bit about black holes and common misconceptions in his talk entitled: "Black Holes for Dummies." He covered Newtonian gravity and general relativity, what black holes are and what black holes are not, and finally talked about what might go on inside the event horizon of a black hole.

Needless to say, despite its title the talk was at a little bit of a higher level than many of our lecturess, but I think people generally got something out of it judging by the number of interesting and insightful questions the audience members asked. After the lecture, we gave tours of the telescopes, had a 40-minute-long question & answer session with the graduate students, and then Cameron Hummels gave a short slideshow on the topic of "Comets, Asteroids and Meteorites." In addition, we gave away a Galileoscope to one lucky audience member, and several items were given out to those audience members who filled out a short survey involving astronomy software for a company called Project Aurora Games. All in all, despite the nasty weather, this was a very successful outreach night.

Thanks to all 150 attendees for braving the rain to come learn about black holes!

--Cameron

From Earth to the Universe

2009-10-16T13:41:00.001-04:00

For the last week and a half, Columbia University has been host to the "From Earth to the Universe" (FETTU) astrophotography exhibit. This stunning exhibit consists of 50 spectacular images of planets, stars, nebulae, galaxies and more taken by ground and space-based telescopes over the last few decades. The exhibit is arranged as 25 double-sided, weather-proof, stand-alone panels, each featuring two high-resolution images blown up to a huge, 4-foot-by-3-foot scale. The photographs were placed in the center of campus, in front of Butler Library, where they remained 24 hours a day.

Additionally, volunteers from our Astronomy Department staffed a table next to the exhibit for 10 hours each day the exhibit was up. These volunteers answered questions about the exhibit, astronomy and science in general; they operated a solar telescope to give attendees safe glimpses of the Sun; and they gave out free NASA posters and other astronomy swag.

FETTU is one of the cornerstone projects of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 that brings beautiful multi-wavelength images of the cosmos to a wider audience in non-traditional venues such as public parks and gardens, art museums, shopping malls and metro stations. The exhibit tours all around the United States, but ours was its longest stay in New York City.

Overall, the exhibit was an overwhelming success with an estimated 10,000 attendees, over 3,000 pictures and posters given away, and loads of enthusiasm from everyone who saw the images. Thank you to everyone who was a part of making this one of the most largest astronomy outreach events in the history of New York City.

For images of our event, see our multimedia page. For more information about FETTU, please see their homepage. In case you missed out on all the free posters, check out this site to download a copy of your own.

--Cameron

Dark Matter

2009-10-10T21:59:00.001-04:00

Last night, Laura Newburgh presented an excellent lecture on the topic of dark matter. She described the scientific evidence indicating it exists, scientists best guesses for what it is, and future projects that we're hoping will provide insight into this peculiar entity.

Unfortunately, the weather was uncooperative, so we were unable to observe the sky; however, there were no shortage of activities. After Laura's talk, Andrew Brown gave an informal talk on the prospects for life in the Universe, Cameron Hummels gave a talk explaining the recent water on the Moon and LCROSS mission, and Jessica Werk discussed how galaxies are constantly merging and interacting all around us in the Universe. In addition, there were tours of the telescopes and the observatory for those people undaunted by the overcast weather.

Thank you to all of the 175 attendees who showed up despite the clouds--we'll see you in a couple of weeks!

--Cameron

Science Fiction and Water on the Moon

2009-09-26T20:50:00.002-04:00

Jana Grcevich delivered one of the best lectures of the year last night entitled: "Science vs Fiction in Science Fiction". She had movie clips from Star Wars, Star Trek, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and explanations as to why the physics in these scenes was not real science. The weather was very clear and the Moon was at first quarter, so we got great views of Jupiter, the Andromeda Galaxy, the Ring Nebula, the Double Cluster, and the Moon.

After the lecture, Cameron Hummels explained the recent discovery of water ice on the surface of the Moon and its implications for the future of space exploration. There was also a Q&A session and a slideshow on different types of spiral galaxies by Maureen Teyssier. Lastly, we showed parts of the old AMNH planetarium show, Cosmic Collisions to finish off the night.

Thanks to all of the 100 attendees who showed up. I hope we'll see you at the From Earth to the Universe photo exhibition on campus the week of October 5-October 13.

--Cameron

Aliens and Life in the Universe

2009-09-19T10:31:00.001-04:00

Last night, Friday September 18, we had a great lecture by Maureen Teyssier about what extraterrestrial life might have in common with us. She detailed the chemistry necessary for life as we understand it, as well speculated on how the environments of other lifeforms might affect them.

Unfortunately, the weather started out pretty crummy at the beginning of the night with clouds covering the sky. At 9:00 however, the clouds thinned, and we were able to set up 4 of the telescopes on the roof to look at various targets. We viewed Jupiter, Albireo, Alcor & Mizar, and the Double Cluster. Because some thin cloud remained, we were unable to look at any fainter targets.

At the same time, keeping in line with the "life in the universe" theme, Andrew Brown ran a slideshow on the possibilities of life on Jupiter's moon, Europa. We also showed a space shuttle launch video, some time-lapse photography from the summit of Mauna Kea (one of the biggest observatories in the world), and took questions from the audience on a variety of astronomical topics.

Thanks to all of the 125 attendees who showed up, and I hope we'll see you next week!

--Cameron

New school year, new web presence

2009-09-16T15:31:00.000-04:00

Thanks to the work of Destry, we now have a much-improved homepage to represent our outreach programs. In addition, we've expanded our web presence to include the following:

*this blog, where we'll document each of our events with descriptions and photos

*a schedule of our events at Google calendar

*a Facebook group to help spread the word

*a Twitter page with quick weather updates for stargazing

*a youtube account, where we'll soon archive video recordings of our Friday lectures.

Our first event of the fall semester is coming right up--this Friday, September 18th. We'll begin at 8 pm in the basement lecture hall 301 with a half-hour talk by Maureen, Is There Life Like Us in Outer Space?, and we'll follow that with rooftop stargazing if the sky is clear. We're looking forward to seeing new and familiar faces!

-Neil