20190315 < Main

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---+ March 15, 2019 8-10PM
*Event Type*: [[PublicLectures][Lecture and Stargazing]]<br>
*Title*: Planet Nine from Outer Space<br>
*Lecturer*: Mike Brown<br>
*Position*: Professor<br>
*Institution*:Caltech<br>
*Abstract*: <br>
While the occasional "Bring back Pluto!" t-shirt can still be found in
the used-shirt bin at the store, most of the world has moved on after the
raucous debates about the status of Pluto and its fellow dwarf planets. 
Astronomers, however, have been continuing to
study the outer edges of the solar system to try to understand all that
this region can tell us. One of the most startling revelations of the
past decade is that there is strong evidence that there is a distant
planet lurking in the distant solar system. This undiscovered object is
estimated to be 5000 times more massive than Pluto, making it the true
ninth planet of the solar system. I'll talk about the history of outer
solar system discoveries, the evidence that led us to hypothesize the
existence of this planet, and the prospects for directly spotting Planet 
Nine in -- we hope -- the very near future.
<br><br>

<img src="%ATTACHURLPATH%/20190315.jpg" alt="20190315.jpg" width="768" height="1024" />

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Topic revision: r4 - 2019-02-20 - OutreachAdmin