Meteor Showers and Giant Impacts: the Solar System at our Front Door

About this event

Join Sarah Sonnett, Planetary Science Institute Senior Scientist and College of Charleston visiting professor, for a fascinating talk on the marvels and mysteries of our Universe.

Small pieces of the solar system are flying around us all the time. A few times a year, Earth passes through a trail of dust left behind a comet or asteroid, making one of nature's best fireworks shows: a meteor shower. Some of these rocks are big enough to survive the trip through Earth's atmosphere, landing as a meteorite. These were some of the first things made in our solar system. And sometimes, the visitor is much larger... Sarah will talk about impacts of every size -- from harmless, beautiful showers to the rare, dangerous impactors -- and what astronomers are doing to watch the sky and keep Earth safe.