Stellar Society Lecture
North Carolina Science Festival Events at GTCC
The Stellar Society Lecture is part of GTCC's annual schedule of N.C. Science Festival (NCSciFest) programs in April. See details below.
Our official NCSciFest events in April 2025 are:
- 8:30-10:30 p.m. April 4: Statewide Star Party Observing Session at Cline Observatory (weather permitting)
- 6-8:30 p.m. April 11: Science Hall Open House – An evening of interactive science activities and demonstrations presented by our science faculty and students. Science Hall is building 24 on the Jamestown campus map. Use Parking Lot F.
- 7-8:30 p.m. April 25: Stellar Society Lecture – A free public lecture about an astronomical topic. The presentation will be in Koury Auditorium, building 19 on the Jamestown campus map. Use Parking Lot F. See below.
Stellar Society Lecture on April 25
Each year, typically in April, GTCCs student astronomy club – the Stellar Society – teams up with Cline Observatory and the GTCC Foundation to present the Stellar Society Lecture. The event features an astronomer from a regional institution who gives a free public lecture on a Friday night before our regular public viewing.
The 2025 Stellar Society Lecture will be at 7 p.m. April 25 in the Auditorium of Koury Hospitality Careers Center, Building 19 on the Jamestown campus map (621 E. Main St., Jamestown, NC 27282).
"Discovering Infant Exoplanets," Madyson Barber, UNC-Chapel Hill
About the Talk: Astronomers have detected more than a dozen planets transiting stars that are 10–40 million years old but reaching younger proved challenging. The lack of such discoveries may be because planets have not fully formed at this age or because our view is blocked by the disk of material that formed it. The warped outer disk surrounding the host star enabled the discovery of IRAS 04125+2902 b (or TIDYE-1b). At just 3 million years old, TIDYE-1b is the youngest transiting planet known to date and is a powerful environment for understanding infant planets.
About the Speaker: Madyson Barber is a PhD student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. She works on the discovery and characterization of young (< 1 billion-year-old) transiting exoplanets to better understand how planets form and evolve. She is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and recently published a paper in Nature on the discovery of the youngest transiting planet known to date.
PAST SPEAKERS
2024: Dan Caton, Appalachian State University, "Defending Dark Starry Skies: Battles with LEDs on the Ground and Satellite Constellations Above” | View Recorded Presentation
2023: Barbara Becker, University of California-Irvine, Retired, "Risky Business: Searching for the Soul of the Sun in the Shadow of the Moon" | View Recorded Presentation
2022: Paul Byrne, Washington University in St. Louis, "(Some) New Insights into the Geology of Venus" | View Recorded Presentation
2021: Ilse Cleeves, University of Virginia, "Planetary Origins: At Home and Abroad" | View Recorded Presentation
2020: Event canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic
2019: Alicia Aarnio, UNC-Greensboro, "Our Sun: Then, Now, and What Might Be"
2018: Katherine J. Mack, North Carolina State University, "Dispatches from a Dark Universe"
2017: Stephen P. Reynolds, North Carolina State University, "Supernovae and You: Tracking Stellar Explosions through Their Remnants"
2016: Sarah Hörst, Johns Hopkins University, "Titan: Ingredients for Life"
2015: Michael Solontoi, Lynchburg College, "Killer Death Rocks from Outer Space!"
2014: Jay Pasachoff, Williams College, "Transits of Venus: Science and History"
2013: Stacy Palen, Weber State University, "The Life & Death of Stars"
2012: Enrique Gomez, Western Carolina University, "What is it about 2012? How We Misunderstand Ancient Maya Astronomy."
2011: Brad Newton Barlow, UNC-Chapel Hill, "Searching for Planets Using Pulsating Stars"
2010: Anne Verbiscer, University of Virginia, "Cassini’s Exploration of Enceladus, Saturn’s Active Icy Moon"