Our next event will take place on Monday 30 August at 20:00 in Grandcafé De Burcht (registration required - see important information below). Join us for an evening of informal astronomy, fun games, and great beer! Alice Booth and Pooneh Nazari will tell us about how planets form.

Alice Booth: "Evaporating ices feeding forming planets"

Planets form in the disks of gas, dust and ice around young stars. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array we can now map the composition of the gas planets are accreting. One key question in astronomy is if complex organic molecules, the precursors of pre-biotic molecules responsible for life on Earth, are present in planet forming disks. These species have gone undetected in many young solar systems so far because they tend to be locked up in ices. Recent observations have revealed a rich reservoir of molecules in a disk due to ice sublimation. Thus, showing that complex molecules are present when planets are actively forming.

Pooneh Nazari: "What do baby planets eat?"

Pooneh is a PhD student in the astrochemistry group at the Leiden Observatory. Her work focuses on the chemistry in the environment around stars that are being born. Particularly, she is interested in looking at the stuff around young stars with large telescopes and finding clues on what goes into baby planets. In her talk, she will tell us about this phase of stars, and in particular about the baby planets around such stars and their diet.

Important information: All ages and backgrounds welcome! The entry is free but registration is required due to COVID-19 regulations set in place! By signing up, you are agreeing to follow the 1.5 metre social distancing rules, will not attend if you have any symptoms and will clean your hands upon arrival at De Burcht (disinfectant will be provided). Attendance is on the understanding that we have put in place meeting protocols yet cannot guarantee no risk of possible coronavirus infection. Due to the limited space, if you have registered but can no longer attend the event, please get in contact with us as soon as possible to allow other interested persons to attend. We hope to make the event accessible to all by also streaming it live on our YouTube page (stay tuned for details).

We start at 8 PM sharp and recommend you arrive early to save a seat and grab a drink. And of course, beside the talks, we will have fun games where you can win cool science prizes! More info: check out www.astronomyontap.nl!