February Meeting
Saturday, February 3, 2024, 6:30 pm
FEBRUARY MEETING
In-person & via ZOOM (ID & Password Required)
In-person & via ZOOM (ID & Password Required)
Meeting & Speaker
Saturday, February 3, 2023 at 6:30 PM
North Scituate Community House
546 W Greenville Rd, Scituate, RI 02857
Topic: Exploring Comets
Speaker: Dr. Martha Hanner,
Speaker: Dr. Martha Hanner,
Comets formed in the cold outer regions of the early solar system. Thus, they preserve a frozen record of the composition of gas and solid grains from which our solar system formed. From Earth, the comet nucleus is hidden from view in the glow from the extended coma. In the modern era, we have sent spacecraft to explore comets up close. I will describe three of these space missions, the 1986 Giotto Halley flyby, NASA's Stardust sample return, and ESA's Rosetta mission that traveled along with comet P/67 through its perihelion.
Dr. Martha Hanner is an astronomer and planetary scientist. Her research interests include interstellar dust, comets, planetary science, and exoplanets. From 1970 to 1975, Dr. Hanner was Co-Investigator on Pioneer 10/11, the first space probes sent to Jupiter. After two years as a Visiting Scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, she spent 25 years as a Senior Research Scientist at Caltech/JPL. There, Dr. Hanner worked on several space missions, including Galileo Jupiter Orbiter, ESA's Giotto Halley flyby, and the Stardust Comet Sample Return. She carried out infrared spectroscopy and imaging of comets at the Palomar and Mauna Kea observatories. She served as President of the International Astronomical Union Solar System Division and as the Education Officer for the AAS Division for Planetary Science. After retiring to Amherst, she taught an honors course at Umass, "Exploring the Solar System", for several years, as well as a seminar on exoplanets. Asteroid #4664 is named Hanner, in recognition of her contributions to planetary science and education.
