Planet 9 or Planet Nein // Sky in May
7 May 2021 @ 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm BST
Discoveries in the Outer Solar System
Talk by Dr. Samantha Lawler, Assistant Professor of Astronomy at Campion College and the Dept. of Physics University of Regina, Regina, SK, Canada
There have been many headlines about the possibility of an undiscovered giant planet in the outer reaches of our Solar System. But is it real? Dr. Sam Lawler will lead you through the wilds of the distant Kuiper Belt with a surprisingly digestible (we promise!) discussion of orbital dynamics and observation biases. She will show you the latest Kuiper Belt discoveries from a large international collaboration called the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS), and you can decide for yourself whether or not you believe in Planet 9. She’ll end with a discussion of how the future of astronomy is severely threatened by megaconstellations of satellites like Starlink and OneWeb.
We will also have the Sky in May from Alan Pickup.
Image: OSSOS