“A Visitor from Another Star: I1 2017 U1 ‘Oumuamua’”
Dr. Dave Karey
Speaker – Dr. Dave Kary, instructor of astronomy, Citrus College –
In 2017 astronomers saw something they’ve never seen before – an object from far outside of our solar system made a close pass by the sun. For just a couple of months they could observe this interstellar visitor racing through the solar system. In this talk we’ll look at what we know and what we can speculate about this rare visitor from another star.
Dr. Dave Kary grew up in New Westminster, BC, Canada. In grade 3 he learned about the solar system in school, starting his lifelong interest in astronomy. He earned a B.Sc. in astronomy and astrophysics from the University of British Columbia, where he did research on the Galilean moons of Jupiter. He earned a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where his research included how solar systems form. He then did research and taught at UCSB and worked as director of the astronomy program at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. In 1999 Dave and his family came to the San Gabriel Valley where he started at Citrus College as a full-time astronomy instructor. Dave and his astronomy colleagues make critical thinking, hands-on experiments and observations, and classroom interaction important parts of the college’s astronomy classes.
Introduction: Pat Kelly
Fellowship: Anne Sonner
Greeters: Lori McGrath