100th Stargazing Lecture

Advance registration is full! There will be a stand-by line at the event.
If you registered, please bring your ticket (paper or electronic).

To celebrate our 100th Stargazing Lecture, Nobel laureate Kip Thorne, Caltech's Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics, Emeritus, will present a public-level science talk entitled "An Odyssey Through the Warped Side of the Universe," on July 12 at 8 p.m. in Beckman Auditorium. After the talk, a panel including Thorne and other astronomers will answer questions while volunteers guide stargazing with telescopes adjacent to Beckman Auditorium. Event is free and open to the public.

8:00–8:45 p.m. - Public Lecture
8:45–9:45 p.m. - Panel Q&A and Guided Stargazing

For remote viewers, the event will be live-streamed on YouTube Live:
https://youtube.com/live/TJcdI68GLb8

About the Talk

"In the sixty-odd years of my career in astrophysics, we have come to understand that our universe has a very rich warped side.  By this I mean objects and phenomena made from warped spacetime instead of from matter.  In this lecture, I will describe some of what we have learned. For example: weird facets of black holes that you may not have not heard of before. And also likely new to you:  Voracious, "vacuum fluctuations" — tiny bits of everything that ever could inhabit our universe, flashing in and out of existence, randomly.  These fluctuations suck energy from rapidly distorting spacetime and use it to convert themselves into real, material stuff."

Stargazing is dependent on clear weather, but lecture and Q&A happen regardless. Event will occur in-person, with lecture and Q&A additionally live-streamed on YouTube.

About the Series

Stargazing Lectures are free lectures at a public level followed by a Q&A panel and guided stargazing with telescopes (weather permitting). This special event celebrating our 100th Stargazing Lecture will be hosted at the Beckman Auditorium instead of our typical location in the Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics. Like our other Stargazing lectures, this will be open to all, but free tickets must be acquired beforehand through online registration. Lectures are 30 minutes; stargazing and panel Q&A last 60 minutes. Stay only as long as you want.

For directions, weather updates, and more information, please visit: http://outreach.astro.caltech.edu.