VIDEO: How we mapped the universe

Christopher Pilny for redOrbit.com – @NotRealChainsaw

Anywhere you go outside of Tennessee, Nashville is generally known for one thing: country music. Johnny Cash, Taylor Swift, honky tonks: You can go to a bar in ungoverned Afghanistan, tell them you’re from Music City, and the first thing they’ll say is, “Oh? So you must love country music, then!”

We have the show Nashville to thank for continuing this stereotype, just like Portland has Portlandia–which is funny, because Nashville more resembles the Portland portrayed on television than it does the Nashville portrayed on television. Johnny Cash, Taylor Swift, honky tonks, no. Craft beer, hair feathers, bike lane activists, yes. In fact, if you’re not a tourist, a bachelorette, or an a**hole, we’re not sure what you are if you’re seen wearing a cowboy hat in public. Usually it’s a combination of all three.

What we love most about Nashville, though, is its burgeoning science community–hence why redOrbit moved here in 2014. Behind universities like Vanderbilt and Tennessee, museums like the Adventure Science Center, and people we can only describe as ultra-nerds, Nashville is one of the few cities that shares our foaming-at-the-mouth enthusiasm for things like dinosaurs and dark matter.

Which is how we got connected with the Science Club Nashville. This group of geeks meets monthly at place you wouldn’t quite call a bar; it’s more like an open room with lots of beer and beer-making supplies in it. Again, Portland, but in the South. Each month they bring in a different expert to discuss a topic they’re working on, or are just passionate about. This is how we met and filmed Stars Wars ultra-fan Chris Lee, who’s currently building a to-scale replica of the Millennium Falcon. It’s also how we met regular contributor Aaron Deter-Wolf, who’s speaking in June about the anthropology of tattooing.

This past week they brought in Vanderbilt professor of astronomy Andreas Berlind, to discuss how he helped (and continues to help) map the universe. He also touched on a bunch of other space topics near and dear to our hearts: dark matter, galaxy formation, and the speed at which the universe is expanding. It’s a great thing to watch on a lazy Saturday or Sunday or any day–especially if it’s raining and you want to feel like you’ve at least accomplished something.

Next week we’ll be posting a video from the Adventure Science Center’s monthly ScienceCafe, which is very similar to SCN. Stay tuned.

But most of all: Enjoy.

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