Astronomy on Tap is coming to San Diego! To Wavelength Brewing Company, in fact!

We are honored to host the first AoT event ever held in San Diego County, right here at our tasting room in Vista. Join us Sunday, April 16th at 7PM for a double feature, two science talks on Astronomy! Our ‘fly-by’ presenters, Dr. Devin Silvia and Dr. Jordan Mirocha, are only in town for the weekend!

Dr. Devin Silvia is a computational astrophysicist at Michigan State University. He currently works as a National Science Foundation Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow studying how the gas between and around galaxies evolves as a function of time. He also started and runs Astronomy on Tap in Lansing, MI. With every passing year, astronomers have discovered countless more planets around other stars, called exoplanets. In this talk, we’ll learn about one of their most recent discoveries, an earth-sized planet around our nearest stellar neighbor, Proxima Centauri. We’ll explore the properties of this planet and discuss the chances that we could ever make contact.

Dr. Jordan Mirocha is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UCLA. He works on understanding how galaxies form, and how we might observe their assembly using radio telescopes on the ground and in space. Jordan will discuss ongoing efforts to find the first generations of galaxies to form after the Big Bang. He’ll focus in particular on how some astronomers are trying to do this without actually looking for galaxies directly, and why this approach isn’t as crazy as it sounds.

Our science events are 100% free and all ages, so bring the family! Food delivery is available from some of the local restaurants, or bring some from home! If the weather cooperates, you can expect us to break out our 14″ Sky-Watcher USA telescope, the BFT! Don’t miss it, cheers!

Join us on April 11th for a special Astronomy on Tap taking place in conjunction with the annual MSU Science Festival. We’ll be taking over The Loft for an exciting night of beer and science! We’ll have out-of-town presenter, Dr. Andy Howell, creator of Science vs. Cinema and co-host of National Geographic’s “Known Universe” season 3. He’ll be telling us all about the science of the recent hit movie, Arrival. We will also hear from Dr. Mark Voit, co-author of the Cosmic Perspective and professor of physics and astronomy at MSU. Dr. Voit will be taking us on a journey through the Milky Way, zooming in from the farthest reaches of our galaxy all the way to the mysterious black hole that lives at its center.

As always, this is a FREE event. If you’re looking for food options, we encourage you to grab take out from one of your favorite Lansing restaurants before you arrive. If you’re short on time there will also be Dominoes pizza available for $2 per slice. Doors will open at 6:30pm and the event will start at 7:30pm.

There will be extra raffle prizes for this event, so make sure you’re there for your chance to win! Bring any burning astronomy questions that you may have so that you can pick the brains of local astronomers during the Q&A session.

We’ll look forward to seeing you!

Astronomy on Tap will be holding a second event at Midtown Brewing Company for the month of March. We’ll have presentations about energetic X-ray bursts in our universe and how mergers of compact objects can make gold! Our presenters will be Professor Michael Zingale from State University of New York Stony Brook and Professor Luke Roberts from the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University. We’ll also have trivia-based raffle prizes and a Q&A session with local astronomers and astrophysicists.

Midtown Brewing Company will be offering a special taco menu for the evening and discounts on their house brews.

Come hang out for another fun night of beer and science!

Astronomy on Tap is going to take over the Loft for our February event. As always, there will be two talks, astronomy trivia questions, raffle prizes, and good times! The topics for this event will highlight the zoo of exotic transient and eruptive objects in the universe and Vera Rubin’s discovery of dark matter and why she deserved a Nobel Prize. We’ll be hearing from Tom Finzell, an MSU PhD student, and Dr. Devin Silvia, AoT Lansing’s very own host!

The Loft doesn’t normally serve its own food but there will be pizza for sale by the slice available or you could consider picking something up from Taco 911 (open from 6-9pm) just downstairs! You can also bring in carry out from other locations.

Doors open at 6:30pm! We can’t wait to see you for another awesome night of beer and science — as always, admission is free!

After a brief hiatus and a change of venues, Astronomy on Tap is ready to take over Midtown Brewing Company in Lansing for a fun night of beer and science. As usual, we’ll have two short talks, a short trivia game, raffles prizes, and time for an open Q&A! We’ll have presentations from Dr. MacKenzie Warren and Dr. Mark Peacock from Michigan State University. We will be spending the night learning about solar neutrinos and the planetary discoveries that took place in 2016!

As always, Astronomy on Tap is free to attend!

Location: Midtown Brewing Company, 402 S Washington Sq, Lansing, MI 48933

Time: 7:30pm – 9:30pm

 

In the wake of the election, come unwind with another night of Astronomy on Tap! This month we’ll be learning about the physics of turbulence and how it manifests in astrophysical environments as well as the nature of magnetars, some of the most exotic objects in the universe. Bring your burning astronomy questions for our Q&A session at the end of the night and test out your astronomy trivia skills for a chance to win one of our awesome raffle prizes — word on the street is that solar system glass set might be making a reappearance! While you explore the science behind the cosmos make sure you’ve got a beer in hand by taking advantage of the exclusive drink specials.

Our featured speakers for this event include Dr. Adam Jacobs and Dr. Philipp Grete, two postdoctoral research associates in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State.

The event will take place at the Beer Grotto at 7:30pm on Tuesday, November 15th.

Another night of awesome science and delicious beer is headed your way.  This month, come on down to the Beer Grotto to learn about the extreme physics of neutrons stars and the newly discovered Earth-sized planet that’s only 4.2 light years away!  We’ll even talk about the feasibility of sending an unmanned probe to this potentially habitable planet.  It’s going to be an exciting night!  We’ll have our standard Q&A session and raffle drawings at the end of the night, so make sure you stick around for the whole event.  While you’re there, take advantage of the food and drink specials to wet your whistle and quench your appetite.

Our features speakers include MSU PhD student, Alex Deibel, from the Department of Physics and Astronomy and AoTLansing’s very own host, Dr. Devin Silvia.

See you soon!

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If you haven’t been to an Astronomy on Tap in Lansing yet, you’ve been missing out! Make sure you head to the Beer Grotto for another awesome night of fascinating science and delicious beer. At this event, we’ll take a journey to Jupiter to discuss the mysteries of our largest planetary neighbor and the insight we’ll glean from the Juno mission that’s currently underway. We’ll also learn what happens when compact objects feast upon their stellar companions. In standard AoTLansing fashion, we’ll have trivia-based raffle prizes, plenty of local astronomers ready to answer your questions, and food and drink specials to keep you satiated. And don’t miss out — we’ll be tapping a special beer from Eternity Brewing — make sure you’re there to have a taste!

Our featured speakers include Professor Brian O’Shea from the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Department of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at MSU and Dr. Chris Britt, a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at MSU.

We can’t wait to see you!

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