NOTE: Registration has Closed!
Not What We Expected: Oddities in the Outer Solar System
- Cocktail hour 6pm - 7pm
- Dinner 7pm - 8(ish)pm
- Presentation start 8(ish)pm
Dinner Menu
Salad:
- Embassy House
Mixed Greens, Sun-dried Tomatoes, Bacon
Entrees:
- Meat Choice – Lemon Thyme Chicken
Wild Mushroom Risotto and Seasonal Vegetable
- Vegetarian Choice – Butternut Squash Ravioli
Sweet Peas, Hazelnut Brown Butter & Haystack Mountain Goat Cheese
Dessert:
- Flour-less Chocolate Tort
Program Description
The orbits of minor planets beyond Neptune are behaving strangely. They tilt and cluster together in bizarre ways that don’t conform with our story of the Solar System’s formation and evolution. In this talk, we will present the latest theoretical ideas to explain what’s going on: is there a new planet in the dark, outer regions of the Solar System, or could the collective gravity between minor planets be more important than we thought?
Presenters:
Dr. Ann Marie Madigan is a theoretical astrophysicist who studies the strange orbits of icy bodies in the outer Solar System. Born in Dublin, Ireland, she moved to the Netherlands to pursue her PhD on the motion of stars and gas around supermassive black holes. She continued her research as a NASA Einstein Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley, before joining the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder as an assistant professor in 2016.
Jacob Fleisig is an astrophysics undergraduate currently finishing his senior year at the University of Colorado Boulder. For the last two years, he has been studying Solar System dynamics, particularly “self-gravity”, with Dr. Madigan. He plans to attend graduate school, attain his PhD and continue research in the field of Astrophysics.
The DAS Holiday Party is a members and guests only event that replaces the December general meeting.