Astronomy on Tap STL

03/06/2026

🌸 Astronomy on Tap St. Louis – Spring Equinox Party! 🌸

Celebrate the Spring Equinox with us at a special Astronomy on Tap event!

This month’s fascinating talks will be given by WashU Satellite Club members, who will present three of their satellite missions: AIRIS, SCALAR, and VECTOR. Learn how student-built spacecraft are designed, developed, and launched to advance space science and engineering.

🛰 VECTOR – A First Responder in Space
Sophie Fendler will introduce a satellite designed to rapidly search for optical afterglows and alert larger observatories, helping scientists respond quickly to the universe’s most energetic events.

🛰 SCALAR – Steering with Earth’s Magnetic Field
Jesse Myoung will present a mission testing magnetorquers that use Earth’s magnetic field to control and stabilize a tumbling satellite.

🛰 AIRIS – Hunting Cosmic Explosions from Antarctica
Aavik Wadivkar will discuss a balloon mission over Antarctica that detects gamma-ray bursts and rapidly points a telescope to capture their fading afterglows.

🎤 Engaging talks
🌌 Astro trivia
🎁 Surprise prizes

Free and open to everyone. Bring your friends and celebrate the equinox with space science and good company.

📅 March 24
⏰ 7:00 PM
📍 Urban Chestnut – The Grove Bierhall – Meeting Room

03/02/2026

🌸 Astronomy on Tap St. Louis – Spring Equinox Party! 🌸

Celebrate the Spring Equinox with us at a special Astronomy on Tap event!

This month’s fascinating talks will be given by WashU Satellite Club members, who will present three of their satellite missions: AIRIS, SCALAR, and VECTOR. Learn how student-built spacecraft are designed, developed, and launched to advance space science and engineering.

🛰 Short, engaging talks
🌌 Astro trivia
🎁 Surprise prizes

Free and open to everyone. Bring your friends and celebrate the equinox with space science and good company.

📅 March 24
⏰ 7:00 PM
📍 Urban Chestnut – The Grove Bierhall – Meeting Room

02/24/2026

02/24/2026

🌌 Is there really a black hole at the center of our galaxy?
Join us for an extraordinary evening with Nobel Laureate Andrea Ghez, whose groundbreaking work helped prove the existence of a supermassive black hole at the center of our universe.
🗓 Thursday, March 26, 2026
🕖 7:00 PM
📍 Whitaker 100, WashU
In this public lecture, Ghez will share the journey from possibility to certainty — how decades of precise measurements and perseverance revealed what was once invisible.
Free and open to the public.
More info: https://tinyurl.com/AndreaGhez
Come early. Bring a friend. Prepare to have your mind expanded.

02/24/2026

🌌 Is there really a black hole at the center of our galaxy?

Join us for an extraordinary evening with Nobel Laureate Andrea Ghez, whose groundbreaking work helped prove the existence of a supermassive black hole at the center of our universe.

🗓 Thursday, March 26, 2026
🕖 7:00 PM
📍 Whitaker 100, WashU

In this public lecture, Ghez will share the journey from possibility to certainty — how decades of precise measurements and perseverance revealed what was once invisible.

Free and open to the public.
More info: https://mcss.wustl.edu/events/2026-mcdonnell-distinguished-lectures-public-lecture-andrea-ghez-possibility-certainty-supermassive

Come early. Bring a friend. Prepare to have your mind expanded.

11/08/2025

🌌 Astronomy on Tap St. Louis is back!
This month’s theme is Running Cosmos.exe — how we use computers to understand the wildest objects in the universe. Join us for science, beer, and good company. 🍻✨

⭐ Dr. Yajie Yuan — Feeding the Beast: How Black Holes Dine and Shine
How do black holes “eat” and why do they glow? We’ll look at simulations and real images to see gas swirling around black holes in action. 🔥🕳️

⭐ Dr. Alex Chen — Pulsars, the Lighthouses of the Cosmos
Pulsars are fast-spinning stellar remnants with extreme magnetic fields. Learn how we detect their flashes and uncover what they’re made of. 🌟🛰️

🎉 Astro Trivia with prizes after the talks!

📍 Event Details
• Date: November 18
• Time: 6:00 PM
• Location: Urban Chestnut Brewing Co. — The Grove Meeting Room
• Admission: Free (21+ to drink)

Come for the beer. Stay for the universe.
See you there, St. Louis. 🌙🍺

10/10/2025

Dr. Lindy Elkins-Tanton, Director of the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, will serve as the 2025 Robert M. Walker Distinguished Lecturer on November 6, 2025.
Professor Elkins-Tanton is a renowned planetary scientist, and the Principal Investigator of the NASA Psyche mission. Previously, she was an Arizona State University VP and Regents Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration, Director of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution for Science, and faculty at MIT. Elkins-Tanton’s research concerns the formation and evolution of rocky planets; volcanic activity and extinctions on Earth; as well as on effective teams and future-facing educational practices. Elkins-Tanton received her BS, MS, and PhD from MIT.
Among her many accolades, Professor Elkins-Tanton is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Asteroid (8252) Elkins-Tanton is named for her, as is the mineral elkinstantonite (an iron oxy-phosphate found in a meteorite). She is also the author of a wonderful book, “A Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Woman.”
Public Lecture - Thursday, November 6:
The NASA Psyche Mission: First Visit to an Unknown World
7:00 pm, Whitaker 100

09/15/2025

📍 Urban Chestnut – The Grove Meeting Room
📅 September 23 | 🕢 7:30 PM

Celebrate the autumn equinox with an evening of science, beer, and fun! Join us for two fascinating talks by WashU researchers:

🔹 “How to Spot an Alien?” — Mikhail Tikhonov (Associate Professor) will introduce an innovative approach to the search for extraterrestrial life by looking for patterns of energy use instead of familiar molecules.
🔹 “What’s Inside Planets?” — Zifan Lin (Postdoctoral Fellow) will present his work on developing new methods to reveal the hidden structures of distant worlds beyond our solar system.

Stay after the talks for astro-themed trivia and a chance to win surprise prizes!
Grab a drink, bring your curiosity, and enjoy space science in a relaxed, pub setting.

Free and open to the public — no registration needed!