Science Unwrapped Asks 'Is Pluto a Planet?'
What do we really know about our neighboring planets and how our solar system came to be? Inquiring minds of all ages are invited to the Science Unwrapped presentation “The Dawn Mission: The Origin of Life and the Great Planet Debate” Friday, June 26, at Utah State University.
Mark Sykes, astronomer and director of Arizona’s Planetary Science Institute, is featured speaker for the presentation, which is hosted by USU’s College of Science. His talk begins at 7 p.m. in the Emert Auditorium, Room 130, of the Eccles Science Learning Center on campus. Admission is free and open to all.
“Decades of robotic exploration of the solar system, the discovery of hundreds of planets around stars beyond our Sun and identification of life in extreme environments on Earth are changing the way we look at planets,” says Sykes, a recipient of NASA’s Planetary Science Division Distinguished Service Award. “Long-held ideas are being challenged — it’s a revolution.”
Among the scientific classifications under scrutiny is how we define and classify planets. Is Pluto a planet? What about the Ceres, the largest object in our solar system’s asteroid belt?
Sykes will discuss these questions along with NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, which is scheduled to reach Ceres’ orbit in 2015.
“The existence of Ceres in the inner solar system raises interesting questions about the origin of life on Earth,” he says.
Following Sykes’ presentation, attendees are invited to participate in a scaled planet walk of the solar system that stretches from the ESLC along the USU Quad and campus. Staffed stations, offering information about Earth and each of our neighboring planets, will give attendees an idea of the size of our solar system. The walk culminates at the Aggie Ice Cream store (Station: Pluto) on 1200 East, where participants will enjoy a free out-of-this-world treat.
The presentation is part of Science Unwrapped’s “Windows on the Cosmos” series, which celebrates the International Year of Astronomy and continues through fall 2009. Presentations are held the last Friday of each month.
For more information, call 435-797-3517, visit the Science Unwrapped Web site or view the Science Unwrapped at USU group on Facebook.
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Contact: Shane Larson, (435) 797-8838, s.larson@usu.edu
Writer: Mary-Ann Muffoletto, (435) 797-3517, maryann.muffoletto@usu.edu
Writer: Mary-Ann Muffoletto, (435) 797-3517, maryann.muffoletto@usu.edu
All are invited to the Science Unwrapped presentation 'The Dawn Mission' Friday, June 26, at 7 p.m. in the Eccles Science Learning Center auditorium.
Drawn to scale, the asteroid Ceres (lower left) is dwarfed by the Earth and its moon. Science Unwrapped speaker Mark Sykes, director of the Planetary Science Institute, will discuss NASA's mission to Ceres June 26 at USU. Courtesy NASA.
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