Science Café
A Science Café is an opportunity for the community and a UA scientist to have conversation over food and drinks. With a smaller audience, a café provides a more intimate setting than a traditional lecture might. There are no powerpoint presentations, but instead, a dialog between the public and those conducting science. A science café casual meeting place, plain language and inclusive conversation create a welcoming and comfortable atmosphere for people with no science background. The café occurs consistently, always the same place, time and day of the week. Each meeting is organized around an interesting topic of conversation.
The downtown Science Café is always at Cushing Street Bar & Restaurant, at 6:00 pm, on the second Tuesday of the month, September through May. Cushing Street Bar & Restaurant is located on the corner of Cushing Street & Meyer Avenue in Downtown Tucson, across the street from the Convention Center. Complimentary, lighted, on-site parking is available on the east side of the restaurant.
Our next Science Café on Wednesday, February, 29th, 2012 (This is a one-time CHANGE OF DATE!), will feature Dr. Emily Rauscher, NASA Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow in the Lunar and Planetary laboratory at the University of Arizona. Dr. Rauscher’s presentation, title “Atmospheres of Exoplanets” will explore her research on planets outside our own solar system.
Exoplanets are planets that orbit stars in a solar systems other than that of Earth. In recent years, astronomers have discovered many planets orbiting distant stars, and they are discovering ways to analyze conditions on those planets.
Some of the new distant planets that have been discovered are called “Hot Jupiters” and name comes from Jupiter in our own solar system. Hot Jupiters are gassy giant planets, similar in size to our own Jupiter, but they orbit their host star at sometimes scorchingly close distances.
Dr. Rauscher researches the atmospheres of extrasolar planets (especially hot Jupiters):
1. using three-dimensional numerical models to study their atmospheric circulation (employing a model of moderate complexity to consider a range of factors that may affect the flow, including the possible influence of magnetic drag)
2. trying to understand how the atmosphere connects to the planet as a whole (e.g., through exchange with the interior, as a boundary for the thermal evolution of the planet, and through the effects of ohmic heating)
3. determining observational methods that can constrain models (e.g., eclipse mapping, phase curve observations, or using Doppler signatures in transit spectra to directly measure wind speeds)
Ohmic heating uses an electrical current, passed directly through the body of the material, to cause rapid, uniform heating without the use of hot heat transfer surfaces.
Please check back at this page for upcoming speakers and topics.