Astronomy on Tap Triangle #1: May 2, 2017

Announcing the inaugural event of Astronomy on Tap Triangle, our North Carolina chapter of short, engaging talks about astronomy over beer! Our events are free and open to all ages, held at the taproom of Fullsteam Brewery in Durham, NC.

For this first event from 7-9 pm on Tuesday May 2, we’ll hear from two professional astronomers in the Triangle whose work touches on the supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies, which are millions of times more massive than our Sun. First we’ll be joined by UNC Chapel Hill graduate student Chris Frazer*, who will fill us in on the latest about the supermassive black hole at the center of our own Milky Way. Then we’ll hear from Dr. Patrick Treuthardt** of NC Museum of Natural Sciences, who will tell us about some of the strangest galaxies in the Universe.

*Chris Frazer is a fourth year Physics graduate student at UNC Chapel Hill working with Dr. Fabian Heitsch in the field of computational astronomy and fluid dynamics, working specifically on modeling molecular gas in the most central part of the Milky Way to better understand how stars are able to form there. He obtained a B.S. in Physics from the University of California, Irvine.

**Dr. Patrick Treuthardt is the Assistant Head of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Laboratory at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. His research is focused on the morphology and dynamics of disk galaxies. He obtained a Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Alabama, after a B.S. in Physics from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.

Our FREE Astronomy on Tap events features accessible, engaging science presentations on topics ranging from planets to black holes to the beginning of the Universe. There is always lots of time to ask questions and interact with the presenters and other scientists who inevitably stick around for the beer.

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