Dr Jim Adams
Scifest Africa is proud to present a lecture by Dr Jim Adams on the New Horizons space probe journey to Pluto. Recently retired from Nasa (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration), Adams will enthral audiences at Scifest Africa’s 21st anniversary celebration with his presentation about how the New Horizons mission was put together, what it discovered when it arrived at Pluto and what it is still expected to achieve as it hurtles through the Kuiper Belt (the region of the solar system beyond the eight major planets).
When the New Horizons space probe left the Earth’s atmosphere on January 19 2006 it was on a mission to the planet Pluto. When it arrived at its destination more than nine years later, Pluto was no longer a “planet”. It had been officially demoted to a dwarf planet a few months after the New Horizons lift-off.
Pluto was discovered by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh in 1930. An 11-year old British schoolgirl, Venetia Burney, suggested the name Pluto — the Roman god of the underworld — for the darkest and most distant planet. For the next 76 years we were taught that Pluto is the ninth planet of our solar system, but there were always dissenters who said that it was too small to be considered a planet. They pointed out that our moon, and several other moons orbiting Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune are a lot bigger than Pluto. Eventually, the International Astronomical Union decided that because Pluto does not dominate its neighbourhood and sweep up asteroids, comets, and other debris along its orbit, it can no longer be considered a planet.
The demotion certainly caused some people misery, but it did not put a damper on the New Horizons crew. They forged ahead with the enthusiasm of a team that knew it had important, ground-breaking work to do. Doing research for the flyby, the team used the Hubble Telescope to look out for bodies that might threaten the New Horizons spacecraft and they spotted four small moons circling Pluto to add to Charon, a large moon that was discovered in 1978.
Preparation was everything. Their piano-sized spacecraft was flying at close to 50 000kmp/h when it reached Pluto. At this incredibly high speed, the actual flyby would only last three minutes, but the close encounter lasted several hours. There would be no second chances.
Adams played a leading role in the New Horizons and other high profile missions including the Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory, the Dawn mission to Ceres and Vesta, as well as the Messengerspacecraft that orbited Mercury. In his lecture, he will share findings from the New Horizons mission in its brief encounter with Pluto.
Visitors interested in space exploration will also have the opportunity to attend a lecture presented by Dr Lindsay Magnus, chief scientist of the Square Kilometre Array in South Africa, outlining the life of a radio astronomer in the Karoo, or be taken on an exhilarating tour by scientists from the South African National Space Agency.
The programme promises to take visitors who want to go beyond the fascinating lecture series on a journey of space matters, in exhilarating-space related workshops and other activities. Look out for the electronic programme available at www.scifest.org.za. Ticket bookings can be made at www.tickethut.co.za/scifes or for telephonic bookings contact 0860002004.