Cosmic Collisions Lecture at Caltech
Dr. Donald Yeomans, Senior Research Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Lab,
will be giving a lecture at Beckman Auditorium at the California
Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. The lecuture will be
on Wednesday, December 7, 1994 at 8PM, and is free on a first-come, first-served
basis.
Cosmic Collisions and Near-Earth Objects
There is an increasing realization that the Earth runs its course about the
sun embedded within a large population of comets and asteriods. The orbits
of these so-called near-Earth objects allow them to closely approach the
Earth, and the smallest members of this population routinely strike the
Earth without consequence. However, the July 1994 collision of Comet
Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter underscores the extraordinary power of a
direct hit by a large comet or asteroid. While Earth collisions by
large near-Earth objects are very unlikely, the catastrophic consequences
of such an event demand that we establish a rather complete census of these
bodies and then monitor their future motions. Dr. Yeomans will outline
what we know about Earth's closest neighbors and what programs are
underway to find out more.
Comet Shoemaker-Levy Home Page
