Figure 5.
Audience members ask
Gemini Astronomer
Alison Peck about black
holes.
Astronomy on Tap
Gemini Public Information and Outreach
intern Sylvia Kowalski along with Gemini
astronomer Meg Schwamb put their heads
together to organize the Big Island‘s inaugu-
ral Astronomy on Tap at the Hilo Town Tavern.
Astronomy on Tap is a worldwide program
that “combines the powers of space and
spirits,” according to Sylvia. Meg and her col-
league Emily Rice started the Astronomy on
Tap program in 2012, in New York City, and
it has since expanded to more than 15 cities,
including sites in the US, Canada, and Taiwan.
It was standing room only at the Hilo Town
Tavern on February 23rd as four Gemini as-
tronomers presented mini-talks interspersed
with astronomy-themed drinks, trivia con-
tests, and bar games! Talks from the program
included:
• Tales from the Outer Solar System
– Meg Schwamb
• Asteroseismology: A Celestial Shake ’n Bake
– Atsuko Nitta
• Star-Eating Monsters: Fact or Fiction?
– Alison Peck
• Vanishing into the Darkness…
– André-Nicolas Chené
Figure 6 (top).
Gemini astronomer André-Nicolas Chené shares his
passion for astronomy with a standing-room-only
crowd at the Hilo Town Tavern.
Figure 7 (bottom).
Gemini Astronomer Meg Schwamb defends Pluto‘s
dwarf planet status to a packed Tavern.
April 2017
GeminiFocus
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