AoT Leiden: Stellar drama (Leiden, in English)

The next Astronomy on Tap Leiden will take place on Monday 22 June at the Galerie Café Leidse Lente at 20:00 CEST. Discover how stars and planets interact. As always, there will be fun games with which you can test your knowledge and try to win cool science prizes!

Dag Evensberget: Alien Auroras and the search for radio signals from distant worlds
Auroras are not just an Earthly light show. We can observe auroras on Jupiter and Saturn as well. These displays are not limited to visible colors; they also produce ultraviolet light, X-rays, and powerful bursts of radio waves. In this talk, we will travel from the Northern Lights on Earth to the intense radio auroras of Jupiter. Then we will look beyond our solar system, hunting for auroral signals from distant planets and magnetically active stars. You will see how radio telescopes and detailed modeling are used to reveal interactions between worlds and their stars, and what these signals tell us about space weather in distant planetary systems.

Dag Evensberget is a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden Observatory interested in stellar magnetism, stellar winds and space weather, and the effect of space weather and winds on extrasolar planets, including aurorae and radio emissions.

Sérgio Alves Gomes: A Love story between stars and planets
Stars and planets have a deep orbital connection and are constantly dancing together. Each couple - or multi-partner relationship - is unique. Several factors contribute to the stability of their relationship: How close the bodies are, whether they are an eccentric couple, how fast they rotate, and more. Like the ever-changing tides of the sea, a relationship can drift apart, grow closer, or even result in one partner being completely changed.

So how do we quantify this? We measure their interiors with Love.

Sérgio is a postdoctoral researcher at the Anton Pannekoek Institute. His work focuses on reconstructing the orbits of planets and moons over long timescales and exploring how their internal structures influence their motion.

Logistical information
The AoT starts at 20:00 sharp, so please arrive earlier to enter the café, save a seat, and grab a drink at the bar. The organisation uploads a recording of the talks on their YouTube channel. Galerie Café Leidse Lente is located at Haagweg 4 in Leiden. Payed parking is located at Haagweg 8.

All dates for 2025 (may change)
17 February
31 March
28 April
26 May
23 June
21 July
29 September
27 October
24 November