Cline Observatory - 2009 Fall Astronomy Day Speaker
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| Fall Astronomy Day Public Lecture |
Dr. Harold F. Levison of Southwest Research Institute in Boulder will give a free public lecture at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, 2 October 2009 in the Auditorium of the Koury Hospitality Careers Center on GTCC's Jamestown Campus.
What Planets Are and How They Form |
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| About the Talk |
| Is Pluto a planet? This question has been on the mind of both professional astronomers and interested laymen for the last decade. This debate came to a head in 2005 with the discovery of Eris, a Kuiper belt object larger than Pluto. In this talk I will describe the history of the debate and show why the discovery of the Kuiper belt has led to a reevaluation of Pluto's status. I will put Pluto in context by discussing our current ideas about planet formation and the evolution of planetary systems as a whole. |
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| About The Speaker |
| Dr. Levison's principal research interests lie in the area of the dynamics of astronomical objects. In particular, he focuses on the formation and long-term behavior of the solar system bodies. Dr. Levison's work includes studies of the long-term dynamical behavior of comets, the dynamics of objects in the Kuiper belt, the origin and stability of Trojan asteroids, and the formation of Planets. In 1997, he, with Martin Duncan, predicted the existence of the Scattered Comet Disk. He is perhaps best known, however, for his work on the early dynamical evolution of the outer Solar System, and is an author of the most comprehensive model to date. |
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| Directions |
Directions to the Koury Auditorium at GTCC's Jamestown Campus.
If you have any questions please contact Tom English - 336-334-4822 x2620 |
