November 20, 2015: Brother Guy J. Consolmagno, SJ (Director of the Vatican Observatory). “Vesta and the Chaotic Formation of Planets.”
Brother Guy J. Consolmagno, SJ (Director of the Vatican Observatory) spoke to the club about formation of planets in our solar system. Since his last talk to the club, he has become the Director of the Vatican Observatory.
The recent Dawn mission was sent to Vesta to inspect, close up, an intact protoplanet from the origin of the solar system. Except… Vesta’s overall density is too low, and its core and crust too big, to fit anything like what we expect an intact protoplanet to look like. Was it ripped apart and re-assembled? It looks like Vesta is giving us new clues to planet formation and evolution in a violent early solar system.
There was a large turnout (estimated to be at least 175), we advertised the event and used a larger room, Strong Auditorium at Eastern Michigan University.
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