"Near Earth Asteroids"

By Dr. Neil McBride, Planetary and Space Sciences, Open University, UK.

	Cr: Open University

Dr. McBride will talk about asteroids and the asteroid belt.  He will examine what we know about these dark travelers and assess the threat posed to our Earth by NEOs (Near Earth Objects) and what we can do to counteract this threat.

His research interests relate to the study of primitive solar system bodies (comets and asteroids) and cosmic dust via in-situ spacecraft and groundbased observations.

Research areas specifically focus on:

• understanding the near-Earth impact environment (meteoroids and space debris) via the study of retrieved spacecraft surfaces
• the sources, dynamics and composition of interplanetary dust
• the dust environment in cometary comae
• meteoroid streams
• optical and infrared astronomy of Kuiper Belt Objects and other primitive solar system bodies

Current work includes:

• Stardust - a sample return mission to Comet Wild 2. The spacecraft few within 250 km of the nucleus on 2nd January 2004, and we are currently working on interpretation of data from our dust sensors on the spacecraft, to investigation dust emission and fragmentation from a comet. We are also preparing for the return to Earth of the cometary samples in January 2006.

• Cassini - currently touring the Saturnian system. We are working on data from the Cosmic Dust Analyser - an instrument which can return time of flight mass spectra of impacting dust particles so giving information on the composition of the particles.

• SuperWASP (Wide Angle Search for Planets) - This telescope facility based in La Palma (see http://www.superwasp.org/ ) has a massive field of view and surveys large parts of the sky many times a night. We are using the data to survey light curve behaviour of asteroids.

Dr. Neil McBride

I graduated in 1987 in Physics from the University of Sheffield. After working for a year, I returned to Sheffield to do a PhD supervised by Prof David Hughes, on comets and  meteoroids. I joined the Unit for Space Sciences at the University of Kent at Canterbury in 1991, and worked on the Dust Impact Detection System onboard the cometary mission Giotto, which following its successful encounter with comet Halley (in 1985), was about to fly by another comet called Grigg-Skjellerup. I remained at Kent, working on comets and the newly discovered Kuiper Belt, and gained a Lectureship in 1999. I moved with several other colleagues in 2000, to the Open University, to combined forces with Colin Pillinger's group who were also involved in Solar System exploration (most notably Rosetta and Beagle 2). As a Lecturer in Planetary and Space Science at the Open University, I have worked on experiments on board the Stardust and Cassini spacecraft, as well as doing observational astronomy of objects in the Kuiper Belt. I am also involved in writing and maintaining several science courses, including the Science Faculty's foundation science course, which attracts over 4000 students each year.

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Physics Building, Trinity College, Dublin 2.
Near the Westland Row or Lincoln Place entrances MAP of Campus
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                  Map of area around Trinity College

          Admission: € 5 (€ 3 members and concessions)
                                          

This lecture is also available to members nationwide on high quality DVD, which you can order by credit card online HERE or by calling (01) 847 0777 (alternatively post a cheque or postal order to: November DVD, Astronomy Ireland, PO. Box 2888, Dublin 5.) As a sample, a low-resolution version will be available FREE on this website. Full quality DVDs of this and past lectures are just €5 each (add €5 for P&P for any number of DVDs).