Distinguished Lecture Series:
The man who was responsible for the downfall of Pluto as a planet to speak at HKU. Professor David Jewitt, together with Jane Luu, discovered the first Kuiper Belt Object in 1992 that led to a new view of the solar system. In this lecture, he will tell his personal story on this remarkable discovery and why we now regard Pluto as a member of the Kuiper Belt instead of a planet.
The New Solar System
By Professor David Jewitt
Date: Dec 11, 2006 (Monday)
Time: 6pm (Refreshment from 5:30pm)
Venue: Wang Gungwu Theatre, Graduate House
The
University of Hong Kong
(Map
of Wang Gungwu Theatre)
Speaker:
David Jewitt
David Jewitt is a Professor of Astronomy at the University of Hawaii, and a member of the US National Academy of Science. His research interests focus on the small bodies and the outer regions of the Solar system. He is especially interested in the comets as carriers of information about the epoch of planetary formation, 4.6 billion years ago. He co-discovered the Kuiper Belt -- the birthplace of the comets -- in 1992 and, since then, has studied the contents of this region using a variety of large telescopes on the 4000 meter summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Jewitt received his Ph.D in astronomy at the California Institute of Technology in 1983.
Abstract
Our perception of the Solar System, particularly its outer parts, has changed greatly in the last 15 years. We now recognize three major domains, those of the rocky planets, the giant planets and the comets, and we are beginning to understand the connections and inter-relations between them. The region beyond Neptune, in particular, has emerged as a rich repository of clues about the formation and early evolution of the solar system. The so-called Kuiper Belt is a major source of comets and other planet-crossing bodies. It also contains some of the least thermally processed matter within observational reach. Newly reported bright (large) objects show the true significance of Pluto and, more importantly, are excellent targets for compositional study using large telescopes. The Kuiper Belt is also a local counterpart of the 'debris disks' that are observed to encircle some nearby main-sequence stars. Professor Jewitt will present a sweeping overview of the new outer solar system, highlighting the connections for non-specialists, and focussing on recent work that seems to be broadly important.
