an astro-chat with

Professor Don Kurtz

Visiting Professor, School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Lincoln, UK

Friday, 24 September 2021

7:00-8:00 pm

Live online

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Jupiter is big. Really Big. (Apologies to Douglas Adams). It is the beautiful, bright planet that is visible all night now, rising in the east just after sunset, then travelling across the sky to set around sunrise. It will be with us through the end of the year. In our solar system, this is the big one. Jupiter has more mass than all the other planets, asteroids, comets and moons added together. In Roman mythology Jupiter is god of the sky and king of the gods. His wife, Juno, is the daughter of Saturn and mother of Mars. This is an illustrious family. Ten years ago, NASA launched a mission to Jupiter, naming it after Juno. It is a long way to Jupiter, so Juno only went into orbit in July 2016. And for the last 5 years Juno has been whipping around Jupiter, probing, taking beautiful pictures and overturning much of what we knew: Thunderstorms 50 km high! Ammonia and water “Mushballs”. Octagonal and pentagonal polar hurricane swarms. Coming next for Juno: the moons Io, Europa, Ganymede, in preparation for JUICE, the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, arriving at Jupiter 2029 to continue the search for life in the solar system.

This is our 4th Astro-Chat with our distinguished guest Professor Don Kurtz. The session will include a brief illustrated introduction followed by questions and answers. Members of the public will be able to ask questions in the live-chat. The event is hosted by Professor Andrei Zvelindovsky, Head of the School of Maths & Physics at the University of Lincoln, UK.