Astro Night

Astro Night is a free stargazing and lecture event open to the public. Held on the first Thursday of the month (during select months, as weather permits), members of the public are invited to take part in guided stargazings using our fleet of telescopes, including our 17-inch telescope located in our roof-top observatory, in addition to attending a lecture from one of our many researchers. Members of our department will be on hand to answer your questions and tell you more about the going-ons in Campbell Hall! You can see recorded past talks on our YouTube Channel here.

Attending Astro Night

Astro Night is held in Campbell Hall, located on the Hearst Mining Circle. Parking is available in the public lots around the perimeter of campus, with the closest being the garage located at Hearst and Euclid (parking on campus requires special permits); street parking around campus is also available and free after 6:00 pm.

Doors to Campbell Hall open 15-30 minutes in advance of each star party (times vary, please see below for full schedule) and due to our limited space attendance is on a first-come, first-serve basis (there will be someone in the lobby directing attendees). The science lecture is aimed at a high-school level audience, however children are more than welcome to attend. If you plan on attending the lecture please arrive on time; you are welcome to come and go during the star-gazing portion of the evening.

*NOTE*: Stargazing is dependent on weather conditions; lectures will always occur as scheduled.

Lecture: 6:30-7:30pm (doors open at 6:15pm)
Lecture Location: Physics 4 *PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE IN LOCATION*
Stargazing: 7:30-8:30pm (weather permitting)
Stargazing: Campbell 6th floor balcony

2023 Astro Night Schedule

Below is the current tentative Astro Night schedule; more dates to be added; abstracts are linked in the talk titles.
The Astro Night 2022 archive can be found HERE.  If you have any questions please contact Daniel Brethauer, Natasha Abrams and Natalie LeBaron.

Date

Speaker

Lecture Topic

April 6, 2023

Julia DeMarines

May 4, 2023

Lung Chan

Astrometrical observations in Ancient China

June 1, 2023

Damya Souami

From Planetary Science to Planetary Defense: a journey throughout Our Solar System

July 6, 2023

Ben Coughenour

Probing the Mass Limit: Finding and measuring the most massive white dwarfs known

August 3, 2023

Steven Giacalone

Exoplanets

September 7, 2023

Meredith Wieber

Solar Flares and the upcoming GRIPS high altitude balloon mission to study them

October 5, 2023

Dan Werthimer

Are We Alone? What’s New in the Search for Extraterrestrial Civilizations

November 2, 2023

Kevin Hernandez

Exoplanets