On the Rocks: Asteroids, Comets and Cocktails

Registration required. FREE to the first 10 registrants, $10 per person thereafter. OPEN to ALL. Space is limited. Middle and high school students welcome. Register below.

Featured Speaker: Rich Heuermann, Administrative Officer, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and campus Outreach Program Coordinator, NASA Missouri Space Grant Consortium, ret’d., Washington University in St. Louis

Sit back, relax and enjoy a cocktail in this out of this world talk on asteroids and comets. Non-alcoholic options available.

Millions of miles from Earth, two robot spacecraft are exploring small worlds of rock and ice that may hold keys to the mysteries of the formation of Earth, the rise of life, and the death of the dinosaurs. From orbit around Comet 67P, the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft continues its studies and waits for the revival of Philae, its comet lander. In March, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft begins orbiting the largest asteroid, Ceres. Rosetta and Dawn are the latest in a series of spacecraft missions to comets and  asteroids. What have we discovered so far about these worlds of rock and ice? What happens when a comet or asteroid collides with a planet – especially with Earth? Join St. Louis Astronomical Society’s Rich Heuermann as we take a look at the history of comet and asteroid sightings, the results of past close encounters and impacts, and the prospects for future human use of  asteroids and comets.

Presented in partnership with: