Pinging space rocks – a radar story of asteroids and comets

Promotional image for talk: Elements of a successful scientific talk

Speaker(s): Marina Brozovic

Short of sending a spacecraft, radar observations have proven to be the most effective technique to study Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) and occasionally comets. The two most powerful radars in the world are the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and the Goldstone Solar System Radar in the Mojave Desert in California. To date, these radars have observed more than 700 NEAs and 20 comets. Radars play an important role in the physical characterization of these small bodies because of their high-resolution (several meters) imaging capability. Radar images directly display an object’s shape, size, satellite(s) when present, and prominent surface features. Furthermore, radar measurements of line-of-sight velocities and positions provide powerful orbital constraints and frequently add decades to centuries to how far in the future we can reliably calculate an orbit. This is of particular importance when assessing the impact probabilities of potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs). In this talk, I will discuss radar contributions to the field of planetary science and showcase some of the best radar imaging targets that we observed recently.

Colloquium

Junior and senior physics majors attend our biweekly colloquium series, held on Tuesday afternoons at 4:30 p.m. in Shanahan B460. The talks are open to all students and to the public, and are frequently attended by scientists from the other Claremont Colleges, Cal Poly Pomona, and others. The series features speakers from a broad range of institutions and fields of physics.