Can you keep track of the dwarf planets? Here is the official list, as of last week:

• Ceres, which is the smallest dwarf planet and the only one so far designed from the Asteroid Belt
• Pluto, the most famous dwarf planet, and one that has created the strongest emotions in people
• Eris, the largest dwarf planet, and the one that inspired astronomers to create the dwarf planet category
• Makemake, which I wrote about this summer
• Haumea, designated as a dwarf planet last week

Haumea is really odd compared to the others:  it isn’t spherical.  (Technically, it’s ellipsoidal.)  Along its longest axis, it is larger than Pluto, so its total volume is comparable to that of Pluto.  What does this mean for the definition of dwarf planet we discussed earlier?  Stay tuned….

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On July 31, 2008, the Phoenix Mars Mission team announced the first direct evidence for water on the desert planet Mars. In this special presentation, we will take a look at Mars, what we know about it, and what we hope to learn in the future. We will see

• how Mars is similar to Earth, and how it is very different;
• why water is so important to Earth, and what it might mean for Mars;
• what finding water on Mars means about the possibility of life on Mars;
• and other exciting topics!

I hope you can join us on September 22 at 7:30 PM.  As always, admission is $5 per adult, $3 per child under 18, and $10 for a family of 3 or more. Lambuth students, faculty, and staff are admitted free with their ID.

Posted by Matthew R. Francis under Director's Notes & Public Events & Science News | 1 Comment »

How many planets do we know about?  Are there eight?  Nine?  Eleven?

The answer:  more than  300, but almost all of these are found orbiting stars other than our Sun.  In less than 20 years, astronomers have discovered large numbers of planets orbiting other stars, which are known as extrasolar planets or exoplanets.  So, for the first time in history, our Solar System is no longer our only source of information about planets.  We can’t assume that our Solar System and its planets are typical of every planetary system in the galaxy any longer.  Most of the planets we have found are very large (many are more massive than Jupiter), and a large number have been discovered closer to the host stars than Mercury.

Continue Reading »

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On Monday, September 22, the M. D. Anderson Planetarium presents….

Water on Mars, Life on Mars

On July 31, 2008, the Phoenix Mars Mission team announced the first direct evidence for water on the desert planet Mars. In this special presentation, we will take a look at Mars, what we know about it, and what we hope to learn in the future. We will see

• how Mars is similar to Earth, and how it is very different;
• why water is so important to Earth, and what it might mean for Mars;
• what finding water on Mars means about the possibility of life on Mars;
• and other exciting topics!

I hope you can join us on September 22 at 7:30 PM.  As always, admission is $5 per adult, $3 per child under 18, and $10 for a family of 3 or more. Lambuth students, faculty, and staff are admitted free with their ID.

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This Wednesday (September 10), the world’s most powerful high-energy physics experiment will begin operation.  The Large Hadron Collider (or LHC), part of the European international experimental facility CERN, is one of the most anticipated projects in all of physics for many years.

So what does the LHC have to do with astronomy?  Why is your intrepid planetarium director excited about this, when it doesn’t seem to have any relation to the usual stuff we talk about in the planetarium?  The answer lies in the mysterious substance known as dark matter, which comprises more than 20% of the contents of our universe.  In contrast, ordinary matter—atoms and molecules, which is the stuff of our bodies and our planet—only makes up about 4% of the contents of the universe.  (The rest is an even more mysterious substance known as dark energy, a subject best left for another essay!) Continue Reading »

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We will offer two shows in the month of September:

• September 8, 2008 at 7:30 PM: “Black Holes:  The Other Side of Infinity”
• September 22, 2008 at 7:30 PM:  Special Presentation — “Water on Mars, Life on Mars”

The second show—”Water on Mars, Life on Mars”—will discuss the newest discoveries made by the Phoenix lander and other missions that have been exploring Mars over the last few years.  Look for the big announcement and show description to be posted early next week!

As always, admission is $5 per adult, $3 per child under 18, and $10 for a family of 3 or more. Lambuth students, faculty, and staff are admitted free with their ID.

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