Middle Tennessee State University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy concludes its fall 2023 Star Party series this week with the last of four events held this semester on campus.

Lecturer Irina Perevalova will be presenting “Laws that Shaped the Universe” starting at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 1, in Wiser-Patten Science Hall Room 102. Free parking can be found behind Wiser-Patten and other nearby lots.

All Star Parties are free and open to the public. The format is a 30- to 45-minute lecture followed by a telescope viewing at the nearby MTSU Observatory, weather permitting.

Typically held on the first Friday of the month during the semester, the Friday Star Parties feature an assortment of interesting astronomy and physics topics from veteran faculty members.

Perevalova said her talk will focus on “conservation laws that are responsible for the shapes of the major structures in the universe — namely momentum and angular momentum conservation.”

As for take-aways the public might glean from her talk, Perevalova said that “hopefully, after the talk, they will have more appreciation of the ‘simplest’ laws, which we will see in demonstrations.”

The Friday Star Party spring 2024 schedule will be announced early in the semester.

For more information about Physics and Astronomy, one of 11 College of Basic and Applied Sciences departments, call 615-898-2130.

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)