Did you ever wonder why our Earth has the air that it has, and none of the other planets in the Solar System have an atmosphere quite like it? These were the questions that Jackie Villadsen addressed in her talk entitled: "The Air We (Can't) Breathe: A History of Air on Venus, Earth, and Mars". Jackie did a remarkable job explaining how and why Venus and Mars lack the sort of atmosphere we have on Earth, due to their different masses, gravitational pull, and magnetic fields. She also illustrated how certain signatures might enable us to identify other planets hosting life the same way Earth does.
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| Photo Credit for all Images: Michael Wong |
After Jackie's talk, our visitors joined us for stargazing out on the adjacent fields with our telescopes.
The weather was a little hazy, so observing deep sky objects was challenging, but we were still able to get some great views of the first-quarter Moon as well as Jupiter and its largest moons.
For those who stayed in the lecture hall, we held a panel to answer visitor's questions on a variety of science topics, ranging from the possibility of interstellar travel, the viability of worm holes, the nature of dark matter, and planetary magnetic fields. It was a great discussion!
If you missed any of the talk or Q&A panel, please watch our recording
here. The talk begins at 5:50, and the panel Q&A begins at 1:04:30. Thanks to all 120 attendees for coming, and remember to join us next month for a talk about black holes by Chiara Mingarelli!
--Cameron
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