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First Friday: Invisible Astronomy
Friday, January 6
6-10 p.m.
$15 adults, $10 kids/seniors and $5 members
Spend an exciting evening with music from cellist Shannon Hayden, astronomy activities and presentations, and have fun exploring light from Earth and Space. Human perception of visible light is our most important sense, but we are not capable of seeing certain types of light on the electromagnetic spectrum. Listen to a scientist explain how they use telescopes and other instruments to see these invisible rays and what we can learn from what we see. Make nebula art and learn about spectroscopes with the Galaxy Explorers.
Presentations and Performances
Light Lab
With members of Chabot’s Education team
6:30pm, 8:00pm, Classroom 2
Light is all around us, even when it is unseen! In this lab, the nature of light is uncovered to further understanding of what light is, where it comes from, and how the electromagnetic spectrum can reveal the invisible universe through a series of illuminating demonstrations.
Live Zeiss Astronomy presentation
With members of the East Bay Astronomical Society
6:30pm, Planetarium
Explore the cosmos as a Chabot Astronomer leads you through the galaxy using a Zeiss Universarium Mark VIII Star Projector.
Galaxy Explorers Astronomy Team
Featuring Olivia Woo and Dean Ramos
“Solar System Formation”
7:30pm, Café
How did our solar system come to be? Hear from Chabot’s Galaxy Explorers for a brief presentation and Q&A to find out!
Shannon Hayden
Make Space for Music!
8:00pm, Planetarium
Chabot welcomes you to a night of music under the stars with international touring musician, cellist Shannon Hayden. Join us for a sonic journey through interstellar landscapes!
Multi-instrumentalist Shannon Hayden has been traveling the world performing solo concerts and offering multi-instrumentalist work for folk pop group Lily and Madeleine as well as acclaimed world music artist SIMRIT. Her sound has been shaped through the world of classical music and a lifelong love for experimental soundscapes.
Space in Your Face! – Seeing Beyond the Rainbow
With Julia DeMarines
8:30pm, Café
Visible light, the light that we can see, is but a tiny sliver of the electromagnetic spectrum. What would our Universe look like if we could see radio waves? Or X-rays? Come unlock secrets of the Universe with us as we explore light beyond the rainbow.
Julia DeMarines is Space in Your Face and a PhD student, Astrobiologist, science communicator working with the UC Berkeley SETI Research Center & Blue Marble Space.
Super Telescope: Mission to the End of the Universe
9:00pm, Classroom 2
Not rated, running time 60 minutes
This film tells the extraordinary engineering story of the most powerful observatory ever built, revealing how it will explore some of the greatest cosmological mysteries hidden in deep space. Shortly after the first images are beamed back to Planet Earth – we celebrate the magnificent James Webb Space Telescope.
Activities and Demonstrations
Spectra Cart
With Galaxy Explorers
6:00pm – 9:00pm
What are rainbows? How do astronomers identify distant gases in stars, nebulae, and exoplanet atmospheres? The answer to both these questions is spectra! Look at different light sources with a special tool to split their light into different colors. You may find that not all rainbows are the same.
Nebula Spin Art
With Galaxy Explorers
6:00pm – 9:00pm, Lab 1
In this activity, you will learn about how gigantic clouds of gas and dust in space, called nebulas, are formed. They’ll create their own colorful model nebula using paint and a spinner. Because of the unique quantities and locations of the materials and the forces that spread them out, each model nebula will be unique—just like each real nebula!
Life Cycle of a Massive Star
With Galaxy Explorers
6:00pm – 9:00pm, Studio 1
The James Webb Space Telescope and Star Formation:
The James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) launched in 2021 and is seeing light in the infrared part of the spectrum. Spanning the size of a tennis court and standing three stories tall, Webb is the largest observatory ever sent into space. From its orbit some one and a half million kilometers away from Earth—about four times the Earth-Moon distance—Webb will be used to study many things, including the life cycles of stars.
Within this activity, participants will make a visual representation of the life cycle of a massive star by associating different colored pony beads to different stages of stellar life.
Telescope Makers Workshop
With East Bay Astronomical Society
7:30pm – 10:00pm, Lab 2
Open to all ages, the Telescope Makers’ Workshop is an all-volunteer group committed to helping people build their own telescopes. Drop in to see what they are up to.
The Eastbay Astronomical Society serves Bay Area residents and astronomy enthusiasts with events, classes, and Oakland’s premier views of the universe.
