The March  9 meeting of the RASC Mississauga Centre will feature a talk on the solar system.

Talk Title: Making The Moon

Speaker: Dr Alan Jackson, CPS Postdoctoral Fellow, 

Centre for Planetary Sciences, University of Toronto

Abstract:

The Moon is an important part of our everyday lives.  It regulates the tides and stabilizes the tilt of Earth's rotation axis, playing an important role in making our planet the place it is today.  The lunar phases were also used to construct the first calendars, and was the first celestial body studied in detail by astronomers, not to mention the only one that has been visited by humans so far.  Compared to other satellites in the Solar system however, the Moon is unusual, so how did it come to be?  I will discuss our current ideas for the formation of the Moon, and how they developed.

The formation of the Moon

Alan Jackson

Alan Jackson is an astronomer and planetary scientist. Underlying his work is a deep interest in how planets, and the systems they reside in, form and evolve. To study these processes he works to predict the signatures we should see around other stars where planet formation is taking place, and the tell-tale clues that should have been left behind in our own Solar System. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher with the Centre for Planetary Sciences of the University of Toronto.

"I am an astronomer and planetary scientist. Underlying most of my work is a deep interest in how planets, and the systems they reside in, form and evolve. Within that central theme my work encompasses quite a broad range of investigations. The breadth of this topic also means that it touches on many different fields of expertise, and so I work closely with other researchers. I typically approach questions from a theoretical perspective, whilst always endeavouring to link back to observational or experimental data."

The meeting will be held from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. at The University of Toronto,Mississauga Campus, in lecture hall SE2074 in the William Davis Building. The meeting is open to the public and is free.  

Enter off of Mississauga Road. Park in lot 4 or the parkade, across from the fitness centre south of theDavis Building. Enter through the Fitness centre, walk up the stairs untilyou reach the main corridor then turn right. (If you need an elevator,follow the corridor to the right of the stairs, then go up to the mainfloor.) Look for the Mississauga Centre sign in front of the lecture room. Directions

Post meeting plans: we usually continue the discussion post-meeting at a local bar – please join us!