Pluto and Beyond - Looking to New Horizons --- Professor William B. McKinnon, Washington University

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft provided the first detailed look at the distant ice world Pluto and the large moon Charon during its flyby in July, 2015. In addition to the expected craters, planetary scientists were surprised by mountains of super-cold ice, glaciers of frozen nitrogen, and landscapes sculpted from solid natural gas. Dr. McKinnon will talk about the New Horizons discoveries and about its next target, a much smaller and more distant object named 2014 MU69. Sponsored by St. Louis Astronomical Society and NASA MO Space Grant Consortium at Washington University.

Room 162