Caltech Astronomy

06/13/2026

Our City of Astronomy Science Festival takes place this Sunday (June 14) at the Pasadena Convention Center 1-5PM. Come join us for a family-friendly afternoon of science demonstrations, solar telescopes, and public presentations, all for FREE! Learn why Pasadena is the City of Astronomy!

Here is our presentation schedule and a map of activities. See you out there! More info can be found at our event page:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1532832715037927/

or our website:

https://www.cityofastronomy.org/astrofest2026

06/01/2026

How can we photograph black holes and dark matter? Professor Katie Bouman joined us last week for an outstanding presentation explaining how scientists are utilizing AI to help take images of exotic astrophysical phenomena. Her presentation is now up on our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZIeAVJLYTw

05/20/2026

Interested in learning more about the NASA Artemis II mission that recently visited the Moon? We recently hosted Sarah Elizabeth McCandless, one of the NASA navigation engineers for the Artemis II mission, who joined our Astronomy on Tap to discuss the mission and what it was like behind the scenes. You can check out her presentation now on our YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWDc7E59Ve0

Photos by Robb Rosenfeld.

05/19/2026

Want to stargaze from a train, far away from city lights? For the last two years, Caltech Astro Outreach and the DSA Radio Telescope have collaborated with the Nevada Northern Railway to produce the Great Basin Star Train, a train that travels into the Nevada desert to provide visitors with wonderful views of the night sky. Last week, the New York Times had an article about this effort and Caltech's involvement to provide scientists as guides and staffers for the train, teaching visitors about the cosmos and providing astounding telescope views of the heavens. It was a fun experience, and we were pleased to discuss astronomy with so many visitors!

On nighttime excursions in dark-sky hot spots like Norway, New Zealand and Nevada, all you have to do is relax and look up. The stars will do the rest.

05/05/2026

Why did a lunar lander payload put a hole in the Moon? We hosted Roshan Misra from Honeybee Robotics last week to discuss his team's instrument LISTER that put a hole in the Moon. It was a great Astronomy on Tap presentation about lunar science and aerospace, and it's now up on our YouTube channel!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dddBvVEBhlk

Photos by Robb Rosenfeld.