As part of the 15th annual Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series, Mark Showalter, Ph.D., of the SETI Institute, will discuss Pluto on the Horizon: Anticipating Our First Encounter with the Double Planet, an illustrated, non-technical lecture Wednesday, Jan. 28, at 7 p.m. in the Smithwick Theatre at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills. Admission is free and the public is invited. Seating is first come, first served. Arrive early to locate parking.
The more we learn about Pluto, the more interesting it becomes. In the last decade, four tiny moons have been discovered orbiting the central "binary planet," which consists of Pluto and its large moon Charon. Pluto itself has a thin atmosphere and shows signs of seasonal changes. Tantalizing evidence suggests that Charon may have volcanoes. However, even in our most powerful telescopes, Pluto and its moons are just dots in the sky. All of that will change on July 14, 2015, when NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flies past Pluto and provides our first close-up look at these distant worlds. In this free, illustrated public lecture, Dr. Mark Showalter, a co-investigator on the New Horizons mission, will describe how he discovered two of the moons of Pluto and will set the scene for the exploration that is in store.
An astronomer at the SETI Institute, Mark Showalter, Ph.D., studies the dynamics of rings and small moons in the Solar System. His early work with Voyager data led to the discoveries of Jupiter's faint, outer "gossamer" rings and Saturn's tiny ring-moon, Pan. Starting in 2003, his observations with the Hubble Space Telescope led to the discoveries of "Mab" and "Cupid," small moons of Uranus now named after characters from Shakespeare's plays. In 2011, he began a Hubble observing program focused on Pluto, which led to the discoveries of two tiny moons. Their names, "Kerberos" and "Styx", were selected through an international naming campaign. Most recently, he discovered the 14th known moon of Neptune, whose permanent name has yet to be selected.
While everyone knows about Saturn’s spectacular ring system, it’s often forgotten that Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune are also encircled by fainter and narrower rings. Each of these systems interacts closely with a family of small, inner moons. Showalter works on some of NASA’s highest-profile missions to the outer planets, including Cassini, now orbiting Saturn, and New Horizons, which flew past Jupiter en route to its 2015 encounter with Pluto. He has even searched for the rings of Mars, although so far with no success.
He was recently granted three more years to study the system of rings and moons orbiting Uranus with the Hubble Space Telescope. He has been leading a team of astronomers in this investigation off and on since 2002. For the next few years, he hopes that this work will illuminate the subtle interactions at work within a dense pack of moons and rings that circle the planet. The system shows signs of chaotic motion, which means that the orbits are slightly unpredictable and collisions between moons can occur on time scales as short as one million years. That may sound like a long time, but it is astonishingly short for a system that is more than 4 billion years old.
Rings and the faint moons that interact with them are more than just local anomalies. They serve as dynamical laboratories where we can observe some of the same processes that operate, albeit on much larger scales, in galaxies and during the formation of planetary systems.
The free lecture series is sponsored by the Foothill College Astronomy Program, NASA Ames Research Center, SETI Institute Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Past lectures from the series are available online at https://www.astrosociety.org/education/podcast/index.html. A number of past Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures are now available free on YouTube on the series' own channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/SVAstronomyLectures/.
Parking lots 1, 7 and 8 provide stair and no-stair access to the theatre. Visitors must purchase a parking permit for $3 from dispensers in any student parking lot. Dispensers accept one-dollar bills and quarters; bring exact change. Foothill College is located off I-280 on El Monte Road in Los Altos Hills. For more information, access https://www.foothill.edu or call (650) 949-7888.
show less
The more we learn about Pluto, the more interesting it becomes. In the last decade, four tiny moons have been discovered orbiting the central "binary planet," which consists of Pluto and its large moon Charon. Pluto itself has a thin atmosphere and shows signs of seasonal changes. Tantalizing evidence suggests that Charon may have volcanoes. However, even in our most powerful telescopes, Pluto and its moons are just dots in the sky. All of that will change on July 14, 2015, when NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flies past Pluto and provides our first close-up look at these distant worlds. In this free, illustrated public lecture, Dr. Mark Showalter, a co-investigator on the New Horizons mission, will describe how he discovered two of the moons of Pluto and will set the scene for the exploration that is in store.
An astronomer at the SETI Institute, Mark Showalter, Ph.D., studies the dynamics of rings and small moons in the Solar System. His early work with Voyager data led to the discoveries of Jupiter's faint, outer "gossamer" rings and Saturn's tiny ring-moon, Pan. Starting in 2003, his observations with the Hubble Space Telescope led to the discoveries of "Mab" and "Cupid," small moons of Uranus now named after characters from Shakespeare's plays. In 2011, he began a Hubble observing program focused on Pluto, which led to the discoveries of two tiny moons. Their names, "Kerberos" and "Styx", were selected through an international naming campaign. Most recently, he discovered the 14th known moon of Neptune, whose permanent name has yet to be selected.
While everyone knows about Saturn’s spectacular ring system, it’s often forgotten that Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune are also encircled by fainter and narrower rings. Each of these systems interacts closely with a family of small, inner moons. Showalter works on some of NASA’s highest-profile missions to the outer planets, including Cassini, now orbiting Saturn, and New Horizons, which flew past Jupiter en route to its 2015 encounter with Pluto. He has even searched for the rings of Mars, although so far with no success.
He was recently granted three more years to study the system of rings and moons orbiting Uranus with the Hubble Space Telescope. He has been leading a team of astronomers in this investigation off and on since 2002. For the next few years, he hopes that this work will illuminate the subtle interactions at work within a dense pack of moons and rings that circle the planet. The system shows signs of chaotic motion, which means that the orbits are slightly unpredictable and collisions between moons can occur on time scales as short as one million years. That may sound like a long time, but it is astonishingly short for a system that is more than 4 billion years old.
Rings and the faint moons that interact with them are more than just local anomalies. They serve as dynamical laboratories where we can observe some of the same processes that operate, albeit on much larger scales, in galaxies and during the formation of planetary systems.
The free lecture series is sponsored by the Foothill College Astronomy Program, NASA Ames Research Center, SETI Institute Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Past lectures from the series are available online at https://www.astrosociety.org/education/podcast/index.html. A number of past Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures are now available free on YouTube on the series' own channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/SVAstronomyLectures/.
Parking lots 1, 7 and 8 provide stair and no-stair access to the theatre. Visitors must purchase a parking permit for $3 from dispensers in any student parking lot. Dispensers accept one-dollar bills and quarters; bring exact change. Foothill College is located off I-280 on El Monte Road in Los Altos Hills. For more information, access https://www.foothill.edu or call (650) 949-7888.
As part of the 15th annual Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series, Mark Showalter, Ph.D., of the SETI Institute, will discuss Pluto on the Horizon: Anticipating Our First Encounter with the Double Planet, an illustrated, non-technical lecture Wednesday, Jan. 28, at 7 p.m. in the Smithwick Theatre at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills. Admission is free and the public is invited. Seating is first come, first served. Arrive early to locate parking.
The more we learn about Pluto, the more interesting it becomes. In the last decade, four tiny moons have been discovered orbiting the central "binary planet," which consists of Pluto and its large moon Charon. Pluto itself has a thin atmosphere and shows signs of seasonal changes. Tantalizing evidence suggests that Charon may have volcanoes. However, even in our most powerful telescopes, Pluto and its moons are just dots in the sky. All of that will change on July 14, 2015, when NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flies past Pluto and provides our first close-up look at these distant worlds. In this free, illustrated public lecture, Dr. Mark Showalter, a co-investigator on the New Horizons mission, will describe how he discovered two of the moons of Pluto and will set the scene for the exploration that is in store.
An astronomer at the SETI Institute, Mark Showalter, Ph.D., studies the dynamics of rings and small moons in the Solar System. His early work with Voyager data led to the discoveries of Jupiter's faint, outer "gossamer" rings and Saturn's tiny ring-moon, Pan. Starting in 2003, his observations with the Hubble Space Telescope led to the discoveries of "Mab" and "Cupid," small moons of Uranus now named after characters from Shakespeare's plays. In 2011, he began a Hubble observing program focused on Pluto, which led to the discoveries of two tiny moons. Their names, "Kerberos" and "Styx", were selected through an international naming campaign. Most recently, he discovered the 14th known moon of Neptune, whose permanent name has yet to be selected.
While everyone knows about Saturn’s spectacular ring system, it’s often forgotten that Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune are also encircled by fainter and narrower rings. Each of these systems interacts closely with a family of small, inner moons. Showalter works on some of NASA’s highest-profile missions to the outer planets, including Cassini, now orbiting Saturn, and New Horizons, which flew past Jupiter en route to its 2015 encounter with Pluto. He has even searched for the rings of Mars, although so far with no success.
He was recently granted three more years to study the system of rings and moons orbiting Uranus with the Hubble Space Telescope. He has been leading a team of astronomers in this investigation off and on since 2002. For the next few years, he hopes that this work will illuminate the subtle interactions at work within a dense pack of moons and rings that circle the planet. The system shows signs of chaotic motion, which means that the orbits are slightly unpredictable and collisions between moons can occur on time scales as short as one million years. That may sound like a long time, but it is astonishingly short for a system that is more than 4 billion years old.
Rings and the faint moons that interact with them are more than just local anomalies. They serve as dynamical laboratories where we can observe some of the same processes that operate, albeit on much larger scales, in galaxies and during the formation of planetary systems.
The free lecture series is sponsored by the Foothill College Astronomy Program, NASA Ames Research Center, SETI Institute Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Past lectures from the series are available online at https://www.astrosociety.org/education/podcast/index.html. A number of past Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures are now available free on YouTube on the series' own channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/SVAstronomyLectures/.
Parking lots 1, 7 and 8 provide stair and no-stair access to the theatre. Visitors must purchase a parking permit for $3 from dispensers in any student parking lot. Dispensers accept one-dollar bills and quarters; bring exact change. Foothill College is located off I-280 on El Monte Road in Los Altos Hills. For more information, access https://www.foothill.edu or call (650) 949-7888.
read more
The more we learn about Pluto, the more interesting it becomes. In the last decade, four tiny moons have been discovered orbiting the central "binary planet," which consists of Pluto and its large moon Charon. Pluto itself has a thin atmosphere and shows signs of seasonal changes. Tantalizing evidence suggests that Charon may have volcanoes. However, even in our most powerful telescopes, Pluto and its moons are just dots in the sky. All of that will change on July 14, 2015, when NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flies past Pluto and provides our first close-up look at these distant worlds. In this free, illustrated public lecture, Dr. Mark Showalter, a co-investigator on the New Horizons mission, will describe how he discovered two of the moons of Pluto and will set the scene for the exploration that is in store.
An astronomer at the SETI Institute, Mark Showalter, Ph.D., studies the dynamics of rings and small moons in the Solar System. His early work with Voyager data led to the discoveries of Jupiter's faint, outer "gossamer" rings and Saturn's tiny ring-moon, Pan. Starting in 2003, his observations with the Hubble Space Telescope led to the discoveries of "Mab" and "Cupid," small moons of Uranus now named after characters from Shakespeare's plays. In 2011, he began a Hubble observing program focused on Pluto, which led to the discoveries of two tiny moons. Their names, "Kerberos" and "Styx", were selected through an international naming campaign. Most recently, he discovered the 14th known moon of Neptune, whose permanent name has yet to be selected.
While everyone knows about Saturn’s spectacular ring system, it’s often forgotten that Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune are also encircled by fainter and narrower rings. Each of these systems interacts closely with a family of small, inner moons. Showalter works on some of NASA’s highest-profile missions to the outer planets, including Cassini, now orbiting Saturn, and New Horizons, which flew past Jupiter en route to its 2015 encounter with Pluto. He has even searched for the rings of Mars, although so far with no success.
He was recently granted three more years to study the system of rings and moons orbiting Uranus with the Hubble Space Telescope. He has been leading a team of astronomers in this investigation off and on since 2002. For the next few years, he hopes that this work will illuminate the subtle interactions at work within a dense pack of moons and rings that circle the planet. The system shows signs of chaotic motion, which means that the orbits are slightly unpredictable and collisions between moons can occur on time scales as short as one million years. That may sound like a long time, but it is astonishingly short for a system that is more than 4 billion years old.
Rings and the faint moons that interact with them are more than just local anomalies. They serve as dynamical laboratories where we can observe some of the same processes that operate, albeit on much larger scales, in galaxies and during the formation of planetary systems.
The free lecture series is sponsored by the Foothill College Astronomy Program, NASA Ames Research Center, SETI Institute Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Past lectures from the series are available online at https://www.astrosociety.org/education/podcast/index.html. A number of past Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures are now available free on YouTube on the series' own channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/SVAstronomyLectures/.
Parking lots 1, 7 and 8 provide stair and no-stair access to the theatre. Visitors must purchase a parking permit for $3 from dispensers in any student parking lot. Dispensers accept one-dollar bills and quarters; bring exact change. Foothill College is located off I-280 on El Monte Road in Los Altos Hills. For more information, access https://www.foothill.edu or call (650) 949-7888.
show less
Category:
Date/Times:
12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022
The Best Events
Every Week in Your Inbox
From Our Sponsors
UPCOMING EVENTS
Great suggestion! We'll be in touch.
Event reviewed successfully.