Speaker's Night: A High Resolution View of Icy Mars

Speaker: Dr. Isaac Smith, Assistant Professor, Planetary Science & Canada Research Chair, York University

Mars, as a terrestrial planet is exceedingly familiar but also amazingly alien. Immediately we can recognize layered rocks that make desert mesas or sand dunes marching in progression, but there are also countless features that only exist on Mars because of its unique position in the solar system - where CO₂ ice is sometimes stable on the surface. In this talk, Dr. Isaac Smith will present views of Mars that start from Earth and then zoom in on interesting features related to ice and polar activity. The talk will highlight beautiful images from numerous missions to Mars that show the stunning nature of the entire planet and then the intricacies of Mars-specific ice-rock interactions that modify the surface. We will cover Martian spiders, ice dunes, giant ice spirals, CO₂ jets and fans, and many other alien formations that don't exist on Earth.

Talk starts at 7:30pm, socializing at 7:00pm.

Who can attend: Everyone
Fee: Free
Registration: Not required
Organized by: RASC, Toronto Centre
Location: Ontario Science Centre (follow the signs to the RASC meeting)