Music of the Spheres – August 9, 2025

Music of the Spheres – August 9th, 2025 8:00pm

Performer: Charged Particles

Lecture: A New Era of Exoplanet Characterization: Hunting for Water Worlds

Astronomer: Dr. Artem Aguichine

Program Information

7:00 pm	Doors Open
8:00pm	Concert in Visitor Center
	Lecture Hall	36-inch Great Refractor Dome
9:00 pm	Science Talk	Telescope Viewings
10:00 pm	Science Talk (repeated)	Telescope Viewings
1:00 am	Doors Close

Observing passes are handed out when you check in at the door so please plan to arrive early!

Observing only ends when everyone has had a chance to look through the telescope.

Gift shop is open from 7:00pm until 11:00pm.

Weather may restrict telescope viewings, but all other activities will still take place.

Charged Particles

The most exciting and creative music being made today crosses stylistic boundaries and blends diverse traditions to create engaging new sounds. Charged Particles features three of the country’s virtuosos doing just that in the acoustic and electric jazz arena. Murray Low is a keyboard wizard with dazzling Latin-jazz technique and imaginative improvisational skills. Aaron Germain is an inventive and sophisticated acoustic and electric bassist. Along with fiery drummer Jon Krosnick, these players are making some of the most electrifying jazz in the country today.

The trio’s funky Latin jazz repertoire, blending in elements of classical music, mixes complex orchestration with freewheeling improvisation. The band brings a similar approach to playing their own arrangements of jazz standards, each played with a new twist.

Learn more about Charged Particles at https://www.chargedparticles.com/

Science Lecture

A New Era of Exoplanet Characterization: Hunting for Water Worlds

More than 5,800 exoplanets have been discovered so far, but what do we really know about these distant worlds? With key missions like Kepler and telescopes such as Keck, we have become adept at measuring basic properties of exoplanets, but unraveling their true nature remains a thrilling challenge. Based on theoretical models of planet formation, evolution, and structure, astronomers predict a vast array of planetary compositions. Even more exciting, the most common category of exoplanets—sub-Neptunes—could be “water worlds,” resembling scaled-up versions of icy moons like Europa and Titan.

Astronomy is now entering a transformative new era with JWST, whose groundbreaking observational techniques are unveiling the complex nature of these sub-Neptunes. Transmission spectroscopy observations have already started to reveal molecular signatures in exoplanet atmospheres, shedding light on their interiors and compelling us to refine our models. From transit to transit spectroscopy, join me to learn how these recent JWST results have transformed our view of exoplanet structures and compositions, and how they are shaping the hunt for true water worlds.

Looking ahead, upcoming missions such as ESA’s ARIEL and NASA’s future Habitable Worlds Observatory will take exoplanet characterization to the next level, offering deeper insights into habitability conditions and propelling the field of astrobiology forward. By uniting new observational data with advanced theoretical models, we stand on the threshold of discovering—and perhaps one day confirming—the existence of genuine water worlds beyond our Solar System.

Dr. Artem Aguichine – UC Santa Cruz

Dr. Artem Aguichine is a Postdoctoral Research at UC Santa Cruz in the Astronomy Department. He received his PhD in 2022 from the Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille. His work focuses on the theory of planet formation, structure, and evolution.

Telescope Targets

Tonight’s guests will have the chance to observe:

Great 36″ Refractor
Objects chosen each evening

Nickel 40″ Reflector
Wild Duck Cluster

Outside Telescopes
More telescopes will be available outside looking at galaxies, star clusters, and more!

Wild Duck Cluster / M11 – Image Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI and P. Dobbie (University of Tasmania)

Featured Observatory Volunteers & Staff

Hosts

Dr. Lauren Corlies

TBD

Nickel Reflector Control Room

TBD

Great Refractor Operators

TBD

Nickel Reflector Operator

TBD

Thanks to all of our volunteers for making this evening possible!

Tips and Additional Information

Refreshments

Snacks and beverages are available at the refreshment table in the main foyer. All proceeds help support the public programs. In the past, we have used proceeds to purchase an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), additional wooden benches in the main building, new speakers and amplifiers for the main building hallway, and partial funding of two spotting telescopes by the flag pole.

Dark Adjustment

Your experience at the telescopes will be better if your eyes have had an opportunity to adjust to the dark. For this reason, we try to keep the light levels low in both wings of the main hall.

Lights

Please refrain from use of flash photography or white light flashlights in the domes or adjoining hallway.

Assistance

We strive to make your visit as complete and meaningful as possible. Please let us know if you will need special assistance (for example, if you will have difficulty climbing stairs) by emailing tickets@ucolick.org, so we can make the necessary arrangements.

Our Volunteers

All of Lick Observatory’s public programs are greatly enhanced by the valuable participation of our many dedicated volunteers.

Interested in volunteering? Learn more here!