Coffeeshop Astrophysics

AOT IS NEXT WEEK!!!🌌🔭👀 Join us next week on April 21st at 7pm at 💁‍♀️This month we have visitors from giving their joint talk titled "Space Rocks and Stardust" 🌠

We hope to see you there!

We hope everyone who could make it enjoyed our April talk! You can now watch “What’s it Like in Zero-G?” on our YouTube channel!

Be sure not to miss our next talk, titled “Fiction as a Science Lab” on Saturday, May 2nd, 1pm at Anodyne!

What's it like in Zero-G? - Apr. 4, 2026 Gravity is one of those things that we deal with regularly on Earth. We enjoy gravity on roller coasters but a...

We hope everyone who could make it enjoyed our March talk! You can now watch “Building a Measuring Tape for the Universe” on our YouTube channel!

Be sure not to miss our next talk, titled “What's it Like in Zero-g?”, on Saturday, April 4th, 1pm at Anodyne!

Building a Measuring Tape for the Universe - Mar. 7, 2026 Feet, blocks, miles. We measure everyday distances with familiar units and simple tools like measuring tapes. In previo...

AoT is ONE WEEK AWAY 🪐🔭🌌 Join us on St. Patricks day at hosted by and meet our speakers for this month Professor Bob Benjamin and Professor Susanna Widicus Weaver! They will be giving their talks titled:

"Plotting Our Escape Into the Milky Way"
and
"Do Stars and Planets Build the Chemical Ingredients for Life?"

We hope to see you there!

DESI (Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument) expects to observe almost 40 million galaxies (this picture has 400 000 of them!), giving us the most complete map of the Universe to date. All of this to map how the Universe evolves! Come to Anodyne, tomorrow at 1pm for Building a Measuring Tape for the Universe, to see how DESI uses galaxies to understand how the Universe expands and what it has found so far.

100 years ago, astronomers figured out that the universe hasn’t always been the same size. More specifically, it’s getting bigger! But if you ask a bunch of astronomers how fast the universe is getting bigger, you won’t get a single satisfying answer. Come to Anodyne, this Saturday for Building a Measuring Tape for the Universe, where we’ll dive into how different astronomers, using different methods, are getting different answers, creating a “crisis in cosmology”!

Image: NASA/WMAP

Sometimes binaries can be a component of a larger and more complicated star system. Proxima Cenauri, the closest star to Earth, is in a 550,000 year orbit with a binary system containing stars Rigil Kentaurus and Toliman. These three stars form the famous Alpha Centauri system. Join us this Valentine's Day at Anodyne, for Love Written in the Stars, to hear more about some of the fascinating dynamics of these stellar romances!

AoT is FIVE DAYS AWAY 🪐🔭🌌 We are back for the winter semester! Join us Tuesday February 17th at and meet our speakers Zach Lewis and Joseph Livesey. They will be giving their talks titled:

"Heated Rivalry (Space Edition): The Great Debate About the Nature of the Universe"
and
"The Ninth Planet(s) of the Solar System: Why Pluto Had to Die"

We hope to see you there!

Type Ia supernovae are spectacular explosions that occur in binary star systems where at least one of the stars is a white dwarf. If the white dwarf gains enough mass from its companion, it will ignite nuclear fusion and explode in a bright supernova. These supernovae are responsible for creating and dispersing many of the heavy elements that found on Earth including titanium and iron. Come to Anodyne this Saturday, for Love Written in the Stars, to learn about how binary star systems shape the chemical makeup of the universe!

It’s estimated that about one-third of the stars in the Milky Way are in a binary system, including Alcor and Mizar in the handle of the Big Dipper, Algol in the constellation Perseus, and even Sirius, which is the brightest star in our night sky. When two stars become gravitationally bound together, they define the binary relationship and orbit around each other in a cosmic dance that can last for billions of years. Come to Anodyne this Saturday for Love Written in the Stars, where we'll dive deeper into these matches made in the heavens!

That’s a wrap for the semester! Hope to see many of you in the Spring! What You Probably Don't Know About AI is now available to watch on YouTube!

What You Probably Don't Know About AI - Dec 6, 2025 the last century, computing in science has changed from human computers doing calculations by hand to supercomputer...