Astronomy on Tap (Leiden, in English)

The next Astronomy on Tap Leiden (AoT) will take place on Monday 24 November at the Galerie Café Leidse Lente at 20:00 CET. Victorine Buiten will talk about collisions between galaxies, and Elia Pizzati will tell us about quasars, the furthest black holes that shine like cosmic beacons. As always, there will be fun games with which you can test your knowledge and try to win cool science prizes!

Victorine Buiten: “Cosmic collisions: the growth spurts of merging galaxies and their black holes”
Victorine is a PhD student at Leiden Observatory, where her fascination with complex puzzles shines through in her research on the most obscured galaxy nuclei. When two galaxies collide, they are forever changed. Large amounts of material piling up in the galaxy's centers can set off intense bursts of star formation unlike anything in our own Milky Way, which in turn fuel the growth of supermassive black holes. Victorine will discuss successes and challenges to understand what goes on in the mysterious dark hearts of galaxies.

Elia Pizzati: “From quasars to little red dots: a journey through (cosmic) time”
Elia Pizzati recently completed his PhD at Leiden University exploring the evolution of quasars and supermassive black holes across cosmic history. In his talk, he will trace the story of how quasars were first identified and how decades of observations have pushed our understanding of them to the very edge of cosmic time. He will also introduce the recently discovered “little red dots”, a class of compact, faraway specks uncovered by the James Webb Space Telescope, and discuss how they may fundamentally reshape our view of black hole growth in the early universe

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.