Presentation: Following Pluto’s Heart: A Look into Pluto’s Past and Present
When NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew through the Pluto system in 2015, it revealed a geologic surface of surprising complexity, which further hinted at the dwarf planet’s unusual hidden depths. The characteristics of Pluto’s thick ice shell and its potentially long-lived subsurface ocean, as well as the composition of its rocky core, remain active questions. The answers to these questions have critical implications for how icy bodies and ocean worlds form across the outer Solar System. In this talk, I will focus on the Sputnik basin, Pluto’s largest impact basin, and investigate its formation conditions, morphology, and proposed association with geologic features elsewhere on the surface. By reproducing the giant impact that formed Sputnik, I can reconstruct Pluto’s evolution over geologic time.
Bio: Dr. Adeene Denton is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory interested in giant impacts and their influence on the history, evolution and tectonic activity of icy satellites, ocean worlds, and Kuiper Belt Objects. Adeene received bachelor’s degrees in History and Earth Science from Rice University in 2016, her MS in Earth, Environmental and Planetary Science from Brown University in 2018, and her PhD in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science from Purdue University in 2022. She uses a combination of numerical tools, from shock physics codes to finite element modeling, to explore the effects of giant impacts, which begin in the first few seconds after impact and can extend for hundreds of millions of years. She is passionate about integrating numerical modeling, fieldwork, and everything in between to approach planetary problems. Asteroid 16883 adeenedenton is named for her research on impact processes on outer Solar System worlds, including Pluto.
Caption: Heart of Pluto / Credit: NASA/NEW HORIZONS TEAM
TAAA’s next general member meeting will be held on Friday, May 03, 2024. The Main Presentation will start at 6:30 P.M. This will be a ZOOM ONLY meeting. TAAA members will receive a Zoom link should they wish to attend remotely. The public may attend online through our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TucsonAstronomy/. It will be posted to YouTube afterwards.
Presentation: TAAA Member Image Sharing
Our May 2024 meeting features TAAA members sharing presentations of astronomy interest. Among these will be several April 8th eclipse experiences, (from the sublime to the disappointing), with visuals. If you would like to participate, please contact Jim Knoll by April 30th at jimknoll@tucsonastronomy.org. Also, contact him with any questions.
Election:
At this meeting we will also have results of our 2024 Leadership Election (online ballots to be sent out on April 26).
Credit: Voxvine.com for NASA April 8, 2024 Total Solar Eclipse
Star Party – Saguaro National Park – East
Tucson, AZ
Great dark skies on the East side of Tucson at Saguaro National Park – East.
Star Party is open to the Public. Event is free but NPS admission fees apply.
The Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association will have several telescopes for astronomical viewing. We will observe Planets, Nebulae, Galaxies, Star Clusters and lots more.
Great opportunity to look through a variety of telescopes.
Weather dependent. For real-time updates, follow this event on the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association Facebook Events Page: TAAA Facebook Events page
Information: Great dark skies just north of Tucson at Oracle State Park.
Star Party open to the Public. Admission fees for entrance into Oracle State Park apply.
Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association will have several telescopes for astronomical viewing. We will be observing the Moon + Planets, Nebulae, Galaxies, and Star Clusters.
Great opportunity to look through a wide variety of telescopes. Weather dependent.
For real-time updates, follow this event on the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association Facebook event page: TAAA Facebook Events page
Star Party – Anamax Park, Sahuarita, AZ
Viewing Location: Field 4 in the middle of the soccer field
Great dark skies just South of Tucson.
Star Party open to the Public.
Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association will have telescopes for astronomical viewing.
We will observe Planets, Nebulae, Galaxies, Star Clusters and lots more.
Weather dependent. For real-time updates, follow this event on the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association Facebook Events Page (https://www.facebook.com/TucsonAstronomy/).
The New Moon on the 8th brings a partial solar eclipse in Tucson during late morning It is total on a path from Mazatlan in Mexico, through Texas, to the Great Lakes. The following day, the thin crescent can be seen just before 8 pm.
Venus rises during the dawn and may be visible naked eye, at least during the first half of the month.
Mars is rising earlier, but it still is not very high when dawn starts.
Jupiter is visible in the west after dusk. By the end of the month it sets at 8 pm, just as it gets dark.
Saturn starts the month just to the lower left of Mars. On the 10th, both planets are only half a degree apart from each other. Both have the same brightness, but not the same color. By the end of the month, Saturn is much higher than Mars, and its rings are quite narrow.
Uranus gets passed by Jupiter on the 20th when they will be only half a degree apart from each other.
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is in the vicinity of Jupiter and may be fifth magnitude. It is heading south and is getting really low after mid-month.
Star Party @ Tucson Mountain Park – Juan Santa Cruz Picnic Area
Tucson, AZ (right next to Sonoran Desert Museum)
Viewing Location: Small side loop on East side of main loop.
Information: Great dark skies in Western Tucson. Star Party open to the Public. Cost: FREE.
Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association will have several telescopes for astronomical viewing. We will observe Planets, Nebulae, Galaxies, Star Clusters and lots more. Great opportunity to look through a variety of telescopes. Weather dependent.
For real-time updates, follow this event on the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association Facebook Events Page: TAAA Facebook Events page
FREE but REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. Go to this link to register: https://bit.ly/ticketsEE
These events may fill up early.
Star Party – Saguaro National Park – East
Tucson, AZ
Great dark skies on the East side of Tucson at Saguaro National Park – East.
Star Party is open to the Public. Event is free but NPS admission fees apply.
The Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association will have several telescopes for astronomical viewing. We will observe Planets, Nebulae, Galaxies, Star Clusters and lots more.
Great opportunity to look through a variety of telescopes.
Weather dependent. For real-time updates, follow this event on the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association Facebook Events Page: TAAA Facebook Events page
