Dance of Streams

Astronomers are engaged in far reaching surveys of stars and galaxies, mapping ever larger objects in the universe. Closer to home, the Bay Area is part of a very different type of survey: a night-time surveillance of the night sky to map out our meteor showers throughout the year. Meteor astronomer Dr. Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center will present the fruit of that labor to date: a movie that shows the dance of meteoroid streams from night to night in the ever changing gravity field of the planets. The observations are occasionally punctuated by unexpected new showers, shower outbursts, and the occasional meteorite fall or satellite reentry. Jenniskens will explain how these maps have given astronomers new insight into the nature of the zodiacal cloud.

Speaker: Dr. Peter Jenniskens