Michigan Astronomy

About UsAbout Us

Related links:

Events

Special Events

Please note: meetings, workshops, symposia, and other one time or annual professional events are on the meetings page .

3rd Annual AOSS/Astronomy/EES Research Symposium

This year's symposium theme is "Planetary Astrobiology." It will be on Wednesday April 18, 2012 from 2:00 to 5:00pm in 1528 CC Little Bldg.

This year we have invited Prof. Mike Brown of CalTech to give a Keynote Address titled "Tales from the Outer Solar System"

In addition, three colleagues from AOSS, Astronomy, and EES will present the following research presentations

Please note that while anyone may attend, the intended audience is resarchers and scientists in astrobiology and related fields.

A reception will follow the talks. RSVPs are not required, but they would help in organizing the reception. Please send them to mmoldwin@umich.edu.

A Celebration Of Five Decades Of The University Of Michigan Radio Astronomy Observatory

April 18, 2012

Mark your calendars for a special celebration of 50 years of the UMRAO. Times and locations are still TBD, so check back latter for more information. The event will include a reception, and special presentations by invited guest speakers.

Confirmed Guest Speakers include

Also invited to present:

Transit of Venus

Mark your calendars for the afternoon of Jun. 5, 2012. This will be the last Transit of Venus of your lifetime. The department will sponsor viewing on the roof on Angell Hall (weather permitting), and several related events. Check back closer to the date for more information.

In the meantime, you can get more information on the transit of Venus at http://www.transitofvenus.org/

Regular Events

Astronomy Department Colloquia (past colloquia are accessible from this page)

Colloquia are usually on Thursdays at 4 in 807, but you should check the schedule to be sure. A reception in the Owl room precedes the colloquia about 15 minutes before the colloquia begin.

Physics Department Colloquia

Journal Club/ Lunchtalks (past lunch talks are accessible from this page)

The Graduate Students hold talks each Tuesday at noon. Check the information page for topics.

Michigan State University - University of Michigan Interchange talks

The Astronomy Department High Energy group and Michigan State university Department of Astrophysics have started a speaker interchange. Talks will generally take place on select Fridays. For the dates, times and locations of talks, please visit the MSU-UM High Energy Interchange Talks page.

Astro Coffee

The department holds a coffee discussion of current astronomical research on Tuesday at 10:30 in the OWL room. Members of the department can access the current and past presenters and the papers they'll be presenting on the astro coffee internal wiki site.

Molecule Fun

Molecule Fun is a series of presentations regarding the physics of molecules in astronomy. This year we will be reviewing "classic" papers that are basic to molecular clouds and star formation. The group meets in the owl room. To receive announcements of the next meeting time and topic, join the email group. A uniqname or friend account is required to join the group. Contact Ted Bergin for more information or if you don't have a uniqname or friend account.

Stellar Populations Group

The stellar populations group meets every other Tuesday at 2 PM in the OWL to discuss current journal articles or conference results related to stellar populations and galaxies. Contact Monica Valluri to be added to the mailing list.

Inter-X Medium Group

The IXM group meets Tuesdays at noon in the OWL room to discuss anything related to "gaseous" astrophysics (> a few pc), whether intergalactic, intracluster or interstellar.

Star formation Journal club

The Star Formation Journal Club meets every other Tuesday at 3pm in the OWL room. Members of the star-formation group can send email to sf-group "at" umich.edu. You can join the group by going to the UM online directory.

Extreme Astrophysics

For more information on the Extreme astrophysics group, please see the Extreme Astrophysics homepage. The meeting schedule is available on the Extreme Astrophysics CTools site (this site is joinable if you go to My Workspace → Membership → Joinable Site. You must have a uniqname or friend account to join a CTools site.)

Meetings, Seminars and Workshops

Information on meetings, seminars and workshops sponsored by the department, past and present, are on the meetings page.

Open Houses and Educational Events

Public open houses are offered at Angell Hall on select Friday evenings by the Student Astronomical Society, and at Peach Mountain on select Saturday evenings by the Lowbrows. The department is collaborating with the Bentley Historical Library and Detroit Observatory on Veiwing Nights at the DO.

The department takes part in the Michigan Math and Science Scholars program for high school students. Check out their website for details.

Soccar at the annual picnicOther Events

There are several not-so-serious events for department members, including an annual picnic (pictured here) and holiday party. Additionally, department members regularly get together around noon in the OWL room for lunch, and around 4PM on Fridays for "tea".

How to find us. Contact information, maps and written directions to the department.

 

iya logoTheme Semester and International Year of Astronomy

The theme semester and IYA may be over, but some of the events are still going.

The Dennison Mural is a permanant addition to the home of the Astronomy department. The Library's web exhibit "Divine Sky" WIll remain online indefinately. You can also get a podcast of any of the Distinguished speaker Series lectures by going to the University of Michigan section of iTunesU and searching for "Astronomy of the 21st Century" or you can find archives of the Saturday Morning Physics presentations. And of course the Detroit Observatory is still sparkling after it's theme semester cleaning and renovations, and has a continuing series of open house tours and viewing nights.

Visit the theme semester website for more information and links: http://lsa.umich.edu/universe

The International Year of Astronomy also provided the platform for many projects that extend past the official end of IYA. To get more information on other IYA events, check out the international site at http://www.astronomy2009.org/, the US national site at http://astronomy2009.us/, and the NASA site at http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/index.htm. Be sure to check out the IYA trailer too.