What major discoveries has NASA made over the last 25 years of exploration in our Solar System? Join us for a lecture by former NASA JPL Director Charles Elachi as he discusses some of the exciting discoveries made by NASA during his tenure as director.
outreach.astro.caltech.edu
At the Death Valley Dark Sky Festival, we hosted two special "Astronomy on Tap" events. These events featured telescopes, astro trivia, and talks on "The Stellar Graveyard", "Gamma Ray Bursts", "Alien Worlds", and "Galaxy Clusters". See you next year!
Last month, we helped put on the Death Valley Dark Sky Festival, a weekend of science, telescopes, and stargazing! We hosted science demos, an astrophysicist Q&A panel, and public presentations on galaxies and radio telescopes. We hope you'll join next year!
What is the oldest light in the universe and what can it tell us about our cosmic origins? We hosted a Stargazing Lecture last week by Professor W.L. Kimmy Wu to discuss the cosmic microwave background, the light echo of the Big Bang. Now on YouTube:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2hs...
What is dark matter, and how can dwarf galaxies reveal it? What secrets can be found on the alien worlds orbiting around Jupiter? Join us Monday, March 9th at 7:30PM at our next Astronomy on Tap.
outreach.astro.caltech.edu/aot
Happening tonight!
What is the future of funding for space? What can you do to support federal science? We recently hosted Jack Kiraly, the Director of Government Relations for The Planetary Society discussing efforts to save NASA science. Now on YouTube:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAOL...
Join us next Friday to learn about the oldest light in the universe and what it can tell us about our origins.
How do we study planets around distant stars? What can we learn about their atmospheres with telescopes like JWST? Dr. Tom Greene, the Director of the IPAC center at Caltech explains it in his recent Astro on Tap presentation, now up on YouTube:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpX4...
How was the early universe different than today? What can the oldest light in the universe tell us about the early universe? Join us on Feb 27 for our next Stargazing Lecture. Free and with telescopes afterwards!
outreach.astro.caltech.edu
Happening tonight!
How do astronomical objects look in radio waves? How did one man revolutionize our understanding of the night sky in the 1930s? Dr. Allison Matthews recently gave a presentation on these topics and to discuss the legendary figure of Grote Reber:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMDe...
How do scientists simulate the lives of galaxies, stars, planets, and black holes? Last week, we hosted the legendary Professor Phil Hopkins to discuss this very interesting topic for a Stargazing Lecture. His video is now up on our YouTube channel:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkU5...
At next week's Death Valley Dark Sky Festival February 6-8, we will be hosting two Astronomy on Tap events. These evenings will each feature two 20-minute public science presentations by Caltech scientists, astro-themed trivia, and telescopes. Free!
outreach.astro.caltech.edu
What do we know about the atmospheres around distant worlds? What happened to NASA's budget and what is the future of funding for space? Join us Monday, February 9th at 7:30PM for our next Astronomy on Tap.
outreach.astro.caltech.edu/aot
Join us in two weeks for the Death Valley Dark Sky Festival, a free weekend of stargazing, telescopes, science presentations, and more in one of the darkest skies in the USA! It's all happening February 6-8 in Death Valley National Park.
Full schedule: www.nps.gov/deva/planyou...
Happening tonight @ 8PM! Come learn about how scientists simulate the universe!
Join us this Friday night to learn about simulating the universe with one of the top experts in the world! Telescopes afterwards.
Interested in learning about the supermassive black hole in our nearest neighboring galaxy? We hosted an Astronomy on Tap this week, featuring a talk by the scientist who detected this black hole. His presentation is now up on our YouTube channel:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=boDk...
How do we simulate the formation and behavior of galaxies, black holes, and planets? How accurate are these simulations and what can they tell us about the real world? Our next Stargazing Lecture will cover this exciting topic:
Happening tonight @ 7:30PM! Free event at a bar featuring talks about supermassive black holes and the sky seen in radio waves. Telescopes and astro-themed pub trivia as well.
How do we know there is a supermassive black hole in our closest neighboring galaxy? How does the sky look to radio-wave-sensitive eyes? Join us next Monday for our next free Astronomy on Tap event featuring two short scientific talks, telescopes, and astro-themed pub trivia!
Last month, we hosted an Astronomy on Tap devoted to plasma physics. We were joined by David Schaffner, physics professor from Bryn Mawr College to talk about the solar corona and the fourth state of matter, plasma. The talk is now up on our YouTube channel:
youtu.be/BEQyRPvEDhw
Here are some of the 2025 highlights of Caltech Astro's efforts to educate and engage with the broader society.
All told, we hosted 66 events with 23k live attendees in 2025, with many recorded to our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@CaltechAstro
We hope to see you in 2026!
How did the Solar System form and come to resemble what we see today? How did the Earth acquire its water? Professor Katherine de Kleer gave a Stargazing Lecture earlier this month on these topics. Check out her presentation on YouTube now:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6au...
We recently discovered a supermassive black hole in the closest neighboring galaxy to ours--what is it like and how does it affect us? What does the sky look like in radio waves and what can we learn from it? Join us for Astronomy on Tap, Monday Jan 12!
outreach.astro.caltech.edu
Join us tonight to learn about the formation and history of our solar system. As part of the talk, there will be a bunch of space rocks (meteorites) to examine and discuss. The weather looks perfect for guided stargazing after the presentation with our telescopes. See you then!
Last month, we operated telescopes at the Watson Lecture, providing views of Saturn as attendees waited for the presentation by NASA JPL scientist Dr. Ashwin Vasavada on the habitability of Mars.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuuL...
Photo Credits: Lance Hayashida & Cameron Hummels
It is with great sadness that we report the death of friend and colleague, Dr. Kenny Lau. Kenny was a postdoctoral scholar at Caltech, working in the field of observational cosmology to study the conditions in the early universe. Ad astra, Kenny.
www.caltech.edu/about/news/c...
How did our solar system form? Join us this Friday for our final Stargazing Lecture of the year, featuring Professor Katherine de Kleer discussing her work with JWST to better understand the history of the solar system!
