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SLAS Regular Meeting
Friday, March 20, 2015 7:30pm
McDonnell Hall,
Washington University
An Asteroid Tour:
NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Mission
by
Richard Heuermann
Washington University
Just this month, NASA's Dawn spacecraft
slipped into orbit around the largest
asteroid, Ceres. Dawn had, after a four
year journey from Earth, visited the asteroid
Vesta for fifteen months before moving
on to Ceres. Asteroids are small bodies
of rock and metal, ranging in size
from a few feet across to 590 miles
across. Millions of them orbit the Sun,
mostly between Mars and Jupiter. But
some come much closer. To date, almost
5800 asteroids are known to have orbits
that cross Earth's orbit. Mr. Heuermann
will present some of the early results
from Dawn's exploration of Vesta and
show some images of its approach to
Ceres. He will also talk about the origin
and nature of asteroids, what they might
reveal about the early history of the solar
system, and about some of the opportunities
and dangers of close encounters with
Earth.
Rich Heuermann is the outreach program
coordinator for the NASA Missouri
Space Grant Consortium at Washington
University. He is also a member of the
Saint Louis Astronomical Society.
Future meetings:
April - Dr. Joseph Marcus M.D. Comet 67P
And the Rosetta Spacecraft"
May - Kathrin Powell "All the Mars Rovers
and Discoveries"
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Meeting Agenda
Welcome
Introduction of Officers and Visitors
Announcements and Star Parties
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