Monday, 05/13/24
03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Attend in person or online

Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC) Colloquium Series
2575 Sand Hill Rd, Building 51
Kavli Auditorium
Menlo Park, CA 94025

Zoom:  https://stanford.zoom.us/j/99767234029?pwd=NjNsOXJNU3REaW42ZVJhNFd3Y3NYQT09#success

Update on SLAC’s Science & Technology Strategy

In this talk we will present an update on the Lab’s science and technology strategy, which has been under development for the past few months. This strategy was recently presented to SLAC’s Board of Oversight Science & Technology Committee and will form the basis for the upcoming Annual Lab Plan as well as the Lab Agenda. In addition to describing the strategic framework, the talk will include an initial perspective on next steps and implementation. The goal of the presentation is to initiate a broader discussion of the strategy and to seek staff engagement in next steps.

Speaker: John Sarrao, SLAC Director

Website: https://colloquium.slac.stanford.edu/events/2024-05-01-update-slacs-science-technology-strategy

Cost:  Free

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Monday, 05/13/24
07:30 PM - 09:00 PM
In-person

Benjamin Dean Astronomy Lecture
California Academy of Sciences
55 Music Concourse Dr.
San Francisco, CA 94118

Unraveling the Mysteries of Black Holes and Neutron Stars

The most powerful cosmic engines in our universe are fueled by compact objects such as black holes and neutron stars. These cosmic engines consume large amounts of material and expel matter in the form of jets travelling at near the speed of light. Recent groundbreaking discoveries of gravitational waves from systems harboring compact objects and the direct imaging of the black hole shadows with the Event Horizon Telescope, represent major steps forward in our understanding of such systems. However, there exists a huge population of compact objects in our own galaxy which provides much more ideal laboratories, offering a real-time view of the behavior of these compact objects and their dynamic environments. In this talk, Dr. Tetarenko will discuss new experiments leveraging the capabilities of today's state-of-the-art telescopes to observe repetitive, (somewhat) predictable, energetic surges of radiation that allow us to track the path of material from inflow to outflow in these galactic systems.

Speaker: Alexandra Tetaranko, University of Lethbridge, Alberta, CA

Website: https://www.calacademy.org/events/benjamin-dean-astronomy-lectures/unravelling-the-mysteries-of-black-holes-and-neutron-stars

Cost:  $15 General, $12 Members & Seniors

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Tuesday, 05/14/24
03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Livestream

Commonwealth Club

Exploring Quanta and Fields - Livestream

Arguably, quantum field theory (QFT) presents humanity's deepest insights into the rules of reality, i.e., into the laws of existence. QFT allows us to describe - with remarkable accuracy - the particles and forces that animate the cosmos, including the stuff of mind and body. Note that calling QFT a theory pays the highest scientific compliment: QFT has vast scope, and QFT is supported by an extraordinary amount of evidence.

Wonderfest and the Commonwealth Club present physicist Sean Carroll to discuss key ideas in his latest book, The Biggest Ideas In the Universe: Quanta and Fields. As in his first Biggest Ideas book (Space, Time, and Motion), Dr. Carroll goes beyond analogies to show how physicists really think about nature's underlying principles.

Speaker: Sean Carroll, John Hopkins University

Use code WONDERFESTPROMO during registration for free admission

Website: https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2024-05-14/sean-carroll-exploring-quanta-and-fields

Cost:  $10 (free with code)

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Tuesday, 05/14/24  3:30 PM
In-person

Hewlett Teaching Center
370 Jane Stanford Way, Room 201
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305

Cosmology from the First Year DESI BAO Measurements

Over a five-year period, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) will spectroscopically classify nearly 40 million galaxies and quasars over 1/3 of the sky and to redshifts z < 3.5.  The DESI collaboration recently completed the measurement of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) feature in seven distinct redshift intervals using data from the first year of observation.  In this talk, I will present those BAO measurements and their implications for our understanding of the cosmological model.  In particular, I will discuss the constraints on the Hubble Constant, dark energy equation of state, curvature, and summed mass of the three neutrino mass eigenstates.  In doing so, I will discuss the new and future DESI measurements with respect to the hints of tension that have been reported in the Hubble Constant and with LCDM in general.

Speaker: Kyle Dawson, Stanford University

Website: https://physics.stanford.edu/events/applied-physicsphysics-colloquium-kyle-dawson-cosmology-first-year-desi-bao-measurements

Cost:  Free

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Tuesday, 05/14/24  3:30 PM
In-person

Earth and Marine Sciences Building
UC Santa Cruz
Room A340
Santa Cruz, CA 95064

Life and death by hydrothermal system: phosphate on ocean moons and ignimbrite remobilization at Mt. Pinatubo

Speaker: Noah Randolph-Flagg

Website: https://eps.ucsc.edu/news-events/whole-earth-seminars/spring-2024.html

Cost:  Free

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Wednesday, 05/15/24
07:00 PM - 08:00 PM
in person or online

Hewlett Teaching Center
370 Jane Stanford Way, Room 200
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305

Supermassive Black Holes: Monsters Lurking in the Hearts of Galaxies

Black holes are some of the most exotic and extreme objects in the Universe. Though they may sound like the stuff of science fiction, they are real and much more common than you may think; every galaxy has one lurking at its center! In this talk, we will explore exactly what a supermassive black hole is and how we can find them. I will share how the latest data from an array of telescopes across the Earth and in space are revealing what is happening to material in its final moments before it plunges through the event horizon. From these observations, we are learning how material falling into supermassive black holes powers some of the most spectacular celestial light shows, so powerful that they have a profound effect on the development of structure in the Universe as we see it today.

Speaker: Dan Wilkins, Kavli Institute, Stanford University

Register at weblink to attend in person or online

Website: https://kipac.stanford.edu/events/supermassive-black-holes-monsters-lurking-hearts-galaxies-0

Register:

Cost:  Free

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Thursday, 05/16/24
06:00 PM - 09:00 PM
Attend in person or online

SETI Institute
Computer History Museum
1401 N Shoreline Blvd 
Mountain View, CA 94043

2024 Drake Awards

We’re excited to celebrate all things SETI and astrobiology! The SETI Institute’s annual event has a new venue (the Computer History Museum) and a new format (a seated dinner)!

Join us as we honor groundbreaking achievements in the search for life beyond Earth.  

Three awards will be presented - Carl Sagan Center Director's Award, SETI Forward Award for undergrads, and most importantly - the 2024 Drake Award. Reserve your seat today, and share your evening with prominent scientists, leaders in space sciences, and SETI Institute fans and supporters like you!

Award recipients include Dr. Andrew Siemion (Drake Award), Dr. Franck Marchis (Carl Sagan Center Director's Award), Dana Yaptangco and Róza Okón (SETI Forward).

Website: https://www.seti.org/event/2024-drake-awards

Cost:  $100 General, $20 Youth in person, $15 online

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Thursday, 05/16/24  6:30 PM

In-person

Humble Sea Brewing Co
820 Swift St
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Astronomy on Tap Santa Cruz: Thriving in Space: Biology and Human Health

Human spaceflight missions promise a new chapter towards long-term Moon habitation and Mars transit & surface missions.Come learn about ongoing fundamental biological research, space hazards to humans (& our ecosystems), and global collaborations in space biomedical sciences. We will present on the benefits to life and biomedicine on Earth, and the NASA Open Science Data Repository which strives to make spaceflight life science data maximally accessible and reusable.
We will also present research projects, primarily linked to innovative work at NASA Ames Research Center. These endeavors are pushing the boundaries of space biosciences by leveraging artificial intelligence and in-situ analytics to enable precision health for astronauts of longer and further space missions.

Speakers: J. Casaletto and R. Scott, NASA Ames

Website: https://astronomyontap.org/event/astronomy-on-tap-santa-cruz-thriving-in-space-biology-and-human-health/

Cost:  Free

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Friday, 05/17/24
12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
In-person

Earth and Marine Sciences Building
UC Santa Cruz
Room A340
Santa Cruz, CA 95064

Serpent Lights in the Night: Mars' Enigmatic Aurora

Speaker: Rob Lillis, UC Santa Cruz

Website: Chttps://eps.ucsc.edu/news-events/igpp-seminar/spring-2024.html

Cost:  Free

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Friday, 05/17/24  7PM
In-person

Telescope Makers Workshop
Chabot Space and Science Center
10000 Skyline Boulevard
Oakland, CA 94619-245



The Chabot Telescope Maker's workshop reopens! Chabot's TMW is one of only a handful of regularly scheduled telescope making workshops in the U.S., and probably the world; it meets every Friday evening throughout the year, except Memorial Day weekend. It has been in operation since December of 1930, founded by Franklin B. Wright, and is currently run by Eastbay Astronomical Society member Rich Ozer, with help from other EAS members, Dave Barosso, Barry Leska, and others. The price of admission is FREE. All you have to do is show up, buy a mirror blank and a "tool" (typically around $100 - $200 depending on the size of the mirror) and start "pushin' glass!" We supply you with instruction, the various grits you'll need to first grind, and then polish and figure your mirror, and all the testing equipment needed. With a small bit of luck, you could wind up with a telescope that costs 1/3 or 1/4 the cost of a store-bought telescope, that is yet optically superior! It does take time - depending on how much time you put in on it, and other factors, it could take a few months.. But, it's a fun project, great for kids, and at the end you get a great telescope!
Enter from the main loading dock behind the main building.

If you have a project, bring it with you so we can assess next steps.
You can also bring any other equipment or literature you may have
questions about.

For more information call or email Richard Ozer at richozer1@... or phone (510) 406-1914.

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Saturday, 05/18/24
07:30 PM - 09:00 PM

In-person

San Jose Astronomical Association
Houge Park
3972 Twilight Drive
San Jose, CA 95124

Teaching Astronomy in Italy and the Lessons I Learned

Andy Kreyche fell in love with the night sky when first saw stars in the deep, dark desert skies of Southern Arizona after moving there at the age of 7. He has been involved with informal astronomy education since the 1990's, after which he started a career working in planetariums. He likes integrating hands-on learning with the planetarium experience to foster a deeper connection with audiences and better understanding of key concepts. Andy is an inaugural board member of the Live Interactive Planetarium Symposium (LIPS), is Vice President of the Santa Cruz Chapter of DarkSky International, and works as a presenter at the Jean and E. Floyd Kvamme Planetarium at West Valley College in Saratoga.

Website: https://www.meetup.com/sj-astronomy/events/300951088/

Cost:  Free

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Saturday, 05/18/24
08:00 PM - 10:30 PM
In-pe3rson

San Francisco Amateur Astronomers
City Star Parties - Tunnel Tops Park
210 Lincoln Blvd
East Meadow
San Francisco, CA 94129

City Public Star Party

Come join the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers for free public stargazing of the Moon, planets, globular clusters and more!

The event will take place in Tunnel Tops National Park, parking is located adjacent to Picnic Place (210 Lincoln Blvd for GPS) with the telescopes setup in the East Meadow.

Dress warmly as conditions can be windy or cold in the Presidio. Rain, heavy fog or overcast skies cancel the event. Check the SFAA website for a cancellation notice before leaving for the star party.

SFAA members with telescopes are encouraged to attend and share their views of the stars with the general public.

Website: https://www.sfaa-astronomy.org/event-5619394

Cost:  Free

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Friday, 05/17/2024 9PM-11PM for night observing and Saturday 05/18/2024
10AM-12 Noon for solar observing
In-person

Foothill Observatory
12345 El Monte Road
Los Altos Hills, CA 94022


Foothill Observatory now Open EVERY clear Friday night and Saturday morning

The Foothill College Astronomy Department and Peninsula Astronomical Society (PAS) have reopened public viewing programs at Foothill College Observatory on:

·       Every clear Friday night from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. for star gazing

·       Every clear Saturday morning from 10 a.m. to noon for solar viewing

ATTENDANCE GUIDELINES
COVID vaccination and masks no longer required on the Foothill College campus.

Websites:  https://foothill.edu/astronomy/observatory.html

and  https://pastro.org

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Friday,  05/17/2024 and Saturday 5/18/2024
07:30 PM - 10:00 PM
In-person

Chabot Space and Science Center
10000 Skyline Blvd
Oakland, CA 94619


Free Telescope Viewings

Join Chabot astronomers on the Observatory Deck for a free telescope viewing! Weather permitting, this is a chance to explore stars, planets and more through Chabot’s historic telescopes. Chabot’s three large historic telescopes offer a unique way to experience the awe and wonder of the Universe. Our observatory deck offers breathtaking views 1,500 feet above the Bay. Three observatory domes house the Center’s 8-inch (Leah, 1883) and 20-inch (Rachel, 1916) refracting telescopes, along with a 36-inch reflecting telescope (Nellie, 2003).

Are the skies clear for viewing tonight? Viewing can be impacted by rain, clouds, humidity and other weather conditions. Conditions can be unique to Chabot because of its unique location in Joaquin Miller Park. Before your visit, check out the Weather Station to see the current conditions at Chabot.

https://chabotspace.org/weather-station/

Website: https://chabotspace.org/events/events-listing/