Image courtesy Pasadena Senior Center website
Join the Pasadena Senior Center and John Mulchaey, Director of Carnegie Observatories, for “Eyes on the Universe: Southern California’s Leadership in Astronomy Today,” on Wednesday, December 2 at 4 p.m.
This virtual event premieres “Cosmic Cocktail Hour with Carnegie Observatories,” a series that will be on the first Wednesday of every month from December through March 2021. When you sign up to be part of the series, you can pour your favorite beverage, sit back, and enjoy the monthly astronomy lectures presented by Carnegie Observatories.
No science experience is required, but registration fees are $7 for Pasadena Senior Center members and $10 for non-members.
In the inaugural lecture, Dr. Mulchaey will delve into the history and future of Pasadena as a leading center of astronomy research and discovery. Since the beginning of the 20th century, Southern California – and especially, Pasadena – has been the world’s leading center of astronomy research and discovery, in part due to Carnegie Observatories, founded in 1904 by the solar astronomer George Ellery Hale, who also founded Mt. Wilson Observatory and Caltech, and who built the three largest telescopes in the early and mid-20th century.
Carnegie Observatories is “where the universe was discovered.” From the observatories’ telescopes, Astronomer Edwin Hubble and his Carnegie colleagues found that the Milky Way isn’t the entire universe but one of billions of galaxies, and that the universe is continually expanding.
Today, Carnegie Observatories is uniquely dedicated to deep research on the evolution of the cosmos, and the training of new generations of astronomers. For the past 40 years most of this research has taken place at the Observatories’ large-telescope facilities in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, and has yielded astonishing discoveries about galaxy and star formation, dark matter, black holes, and much more.
Dr. Mulchaey’s talk will provide new insight into today’s “golden age” of astronomy and the promises it holds for understanding the Universe.
For an added bonus, this special premiere program will include a short concert of solo cello pieces played by Cécilia Tsan, recorded under the dome at the Mt. Wilson Observatory.
To register, go to this Pasadena Senior Center link and click the Register Online button.
