An online (Zoom) talk by Greg Smye-Rumsby

How to join: This talk is free to VAS members (a link will be sent out via e-mail) and members of IOP (South Central Branch). Anyone else is very welcome to register too, using the Eventbrite link (https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/.../astronomy-talk-arrokoth...) which invites a donation.

About the talk: The formative years of the Solar System is still poorly understood. As we learn more our comprehension becomes more focused. Missions sent to study distant small worlds fills in much of the detail and the more sophisticated the suite of instruments designed to study them the better our understanding.

And so in 2006 New Horizons was launched, its remit - to study Pluto, its moon Charon and any other smaller moons that might be discovered en route. But it was also clear that other more distant targets should be sought with a view to see these tiny frozen worlds close up. Being essentially extremely old and unaltered, these relics might be the key to how the planets formed.

About our speaker: Greg Smye-Rumsby has essentially two astronomical careers. Firstly, as a specialist planetarium presenter for the Royal Observatory Greenwich. This consists of presenting planetarium shows to schools and public alike but also providing teaching artworks and slides for the many school and public courses. He has also been asked to cover corporate evenings, TV presentations and provide engaging discourses for the ROG winter programme ‘An Evening with the Stars’. Secondly, Greg is a supplier of diagrams and celestial maps for Astronomy Now magazine and has also written a few articles occasionally.