Open House Nights in Astronomy 2007-08
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All Open House Nights in Astronomy are free and open to the public. The presentations are designed for a non-technical audience. Astronomical observing at the Mehalso Observatory will be available following the lectures, weather permitting. For more information, call
the School of Science at 814-898-6105. |
| Date | Speaker | Institution | Title |
| September 20, 2007 7:30 p.m. Otto Behrend Science Building Lecture Hall |
Darren Williams | Penn State Behrend | Planet Paparazzi |
| October 18, 2007 7:30 p.m. Otto Behrend Science Building Lecture Hall |
Dr. John Mather, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center |
Penn State Behrend | From the Big Bang to the Nobel Prize and on to the James Webb Space Telescope |
| December 6, 2007 7:30 p.m. Otto Behrend Science Building Lecture Hall |
Dr. Roger Knacke | Penn State Behrend | The Christmas Star |
| February 21, 2008 7:30 p.m. Otto Behrend Science Building Lecture Hall |
Darren Williams | Penn State Behrend | Asteroid Apophis: Will It Hit the Earth? |
| March 27, 2008 7:30 p.m. Otto Behrend Science Building Lecture Hall |
Dr. Keith Noll, Space Telescope Science Institute | Penn State Behrend | The Kuiper: The Solar System's Frigid Edge |
April 17, 2008 |
Dr. Roger Knacke | Penn State Behrend | Sending a MESSENGER to Mercury: A Mission Update |
May 10, 2008
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NATIONAL ASTRONOMY DAY |
September 20, 2007
We’ve grown accustomed to seeing satellite photos of the beautiful blue-white marble of the Earth hovering in the blackness of space. But what does the Earth look like from Deep Spacefrom really, really far away?
It’s more than an aesthetic question, Darren Williams, associate professor of physics and astronomy at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, will argue in the college’s next Open House Night in Astronomy, “Planet Paparazzi: Observations of Earth from Interplanetary Spacecraft.”
“Earth has been successfully photographed from a number of interplanetary spacecraft,” Williams said. “From a distance, the planet’s land, sea, and clouds dissolve into one faint, featureless dot. But there’s a lot we can learn from that dot. What do the oceans look like? Is it cloudy? Does it have land? Is there evidence that Earth supports life? Before astronomers spend time and money looking for distant planets, they aim to take a careful look at Earth to see how many of our planet’s known properties can be determined from a dot.”
Williams’ lecture will include unfamiliar photos of Earth taken by the Voyager, Galileo, NEAR, Cassini, and the Mercury bound spacecraft known as MESSENGER.
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From The Big Bang to the Nobel Prize and on to the James Webb SpaceTelescope
October 18, 2007
John C. Mather shared the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics with George F. Smoot of the University of California, Berkeley, for research into the origin of the universe. By analyzing data from the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite, they showed that the microwave radiation that fills the universe has an exquisite perfection that proves it came from the Big Bang itself. Even more spectacularly, they found tiny variations in its brightness that would make stars and galaxies begin to form, and thus make our own existence possible.
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December 6, 2007
What did the Wise Men see on the first Christmas two thousand years ago? In the third of Penn State Behrend’s 2007 Open House Nights in Astronomy, Professor Roger Knacke will discuss what the Star of Bethlehem might have been. Many theories for the star have been proposedthat it was a comet, or a meteor, or an exploding star, or a conjunction of planets. Dr. Knacke will examine the Bible’s description of the star, and compare it with astronomical evidence to suggest a plausible explanation. A computer simulation of the skies over Bethlehem more than 2000 years ago will show what people might have seen and interpreted as a miraculous star.
Asteroid Apophis: Will It Hit the Earth?
February 21, 2008
The January 28, 2008 flyby of asteroid 2007 TU24 reminded everyone that Earth is not the only chunk of rock hurtling around the Sun. At more than 200 meters across, TU24 is the size of a skyscraper, and is moving at over 10000 mph relative to the Earth. The impact of such an object would devastate an area of the planet the size of Pennsylvania, but fortunately the flyby of TU24 occurred safely outside the orbit of the Moon – 300,000 miles away.
Today, nearly 1,000 potentially hazardous asteroids (or PHAs ) orbit the Sun in the vicinity of Earth. Possibly the most dangerous of this group is the 400-meter-wide asteroid known as Apophis, discovered in 2004 and named for a sci-fi villain in the American television show Stargate SG-1. Apophis will come within 20,000 miles of Earth (beneath the orbits of some artificial satellites) on April 13, 2029, and again in April of 2036. The probability of impact on either date is extremely small, but because there is some uncertainty in the measurement of asteroid orbits we cannot entirely rule out the chance that Apophis could collide with Earth.
In tonight’s Open House Nights in Astronomy lecture, Dr. Williams will discuss what is known about the asteroid Apophis and what might be done to deflect it or another asteroid before it strikes the Earth.
The Kuiper Belt: The Solar System’s Frigid Edge
March 27, 2008
Orbiting beyond Neptune are thousands of icy objects ranging in size from just slightly larger than Pluto, two-thirds the size of the Moon, to comet-sized objects a few tens of kilometers in diameter, along with uncounted numbers of smaller objects. After Pluto’s discovery in 1930, some astronomers began thinking about the possibility that this oddly faint and eccentric dwarf planet might be a member of a large population of similar objects. However, sixty-two years elapsed until the discovery of another body in orbit beyond Neptune, the blandly named but fascinating object 1992 QB1.
Today, more than 1,000 such objects are known, forming the “Kuiper Belt.” They are a study in extremes. Their colors vary wildly, from neutral to the reddest objects in the solar system. The densities of some Kuiper Belt objects, the “bubble piles”, are so low that their interiors must be 50 percent or more empty space. Some are rotating so rapidly that they have stretched into oddly e-longated shapes. As many as 30 percent, are really pairs of objects gravitationally locked together as they orbit the Sun. One, “Eris,” is larger than Pluto. Today astronomers are studying what the Kuiper Belt objects can tell us about the origin and history of the solar system.
Dr. Noll has been studying the Kuiper Belt with the Hubble Space Telescope for the past decade and will lead a tour of this weird and wonderful new addition to the Sun’s family. He is also the founder and leader of the Hubble Heritage project, which has returned the most spectacular Hubble images. They can be seen at heritage.stsci.edu.
Sending a MESSENGER to Mercury: A Mission Update
April 17, 2008
In the sixth of the 2007-08 Penn State Behrend Open House Nights in Astronomy series, Dr. Roger Knacke will present a lecture about NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft mission to the little-known and mysterious planet Mercury. On January 14, 2008, the MESSENGER spacecraft swept by Mercury at an altitude of just 125 miles. It was the first visit to Mercury by a spacecraft in thirty-three years. Because Mercury is the planet closest to the Sun, it is difficult to see and to study. But this small, hot world still holds many mysteries. We want to know why Mercury is almost 70 percent iron, and how Mercury formed so close to the Sun. Mercury’s surface records the traces of the second-largest impact in all of the solar system, a that catastrophic hit by an object estimated to have been ninety miles in diameter that left a crater about 960 miles across. How did that event affect the surface and interior of Mercury? MESSENGER will make two more rendezvous with Mercury before settling into orbit around the planet in March 2011. Dr. Knacke will describe the results of the January flyby, show the latest close-up images of Mercury acquired by MESSENGER, and discuss the plans for the rest of the mission.
May 10, 2008
Celebrate National Astronomy Day at Penn State Behrend with astronomical viewing on Saturday, May 10. In the evening starting at 8:30 p.m., the telescopes of the Mehalso Observatory and of the Erie County Mobile Observers Group will be trained on the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, stars, nebulae, and galaxies.
Astronomical observing depends on the weather, so the sky has to be clear enough for you to see the Moon or stars. The telescopes are located in the field behind the Otto Behrend Science Building. For those interested in astronomy as a hobby, members of the Erie County Mobile Observers Group can help you get started and answer questions. There will not be a lecture for this event.
The event is free and suitable for all ages, including young children. For more information, call 898-6105.