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General Meeting – January 2019
January 4, 2019 @ 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm
6:30 pm – Introductory Presentation
Title: Seasonal Night Sky Objects
Speaker: Mary Turner, PhD
Mary Turner, TAAA’s Chief Observer, takes us on a tour of the winter and early spring night sky. Mary’s use of astronomical data, images, and mythology brings the seasonal changes in the sky to life.
7:30 pm – Main Presentation
Title: Forged in Fire: The Volcanic History of Mars
Speaker: Dr. David Horvath from UA’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, is a planetary geophysicist investigating the interaction of processes acting on the surface and interior of terrestrial planets. His research focuses include Martian volcanism, the ancient hydrologic cycle of Mars, and the current methane-based hydrologic cycle of Titan. Dr. Horvath holds a PhD in Geophysics from the Colorado School of Mines.
Volcanism is widespread in the Martian geologic record, manifested as large shield volcanoes, extensive plains of flood basalts, and potentially global coverage of explosive volcanic ash. While most Martian volcanic activity occurred between ~3 and 4 billion years ago and has generally decreased over time, isolated, young (<500 million years old) volcanism is observed. Dr. Horvath will discuss the geologic record of volcanism on Mars, focusing on some of the youngest volcanic surfaces and their implications for observations by the recent InSight Mars lander.