Astronomy on Tap: Giants of the Cosmos

We are very excited for our next event, which will take place on Monday, November 24th at Culture Café Leidse Lente at 20:00 CET!

This month, join us on a journey to explore the cosmos' biggest powerhouses: supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies. Victorine Buiten will talk about the epic collisions between galaxies, and Elia Pizzati will tell us a little about quasars, the furthest black holes that shine like cosmic beacons as they gobble up material.

As always, there will be fun games with which you can test your knowledge and try to win cool science prizes!

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.• Victorine Buiten: “Cosmic collisions: the growth spurts of merging galaxies and their black holes”

Victorine Buiten 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.

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Logistical information: We start at 20:00 sharp, so please arrive earlier to enter the venue, save a seat, and grab a drink. We are not planning to stream the event live but will be uploading a recording of the talks on our YouTube channel after the event.

Join us for an evening of astronomy and fun games where you can win cool science prizes! All ages and backgrounds are welcome!

For more information check out

Also check out other Workshops in Leiden.