Back in 2015 the world got its very first image of the surface of Pluto, taken from the New Horizons spacecraft. but since then it has continued its epic journey out further, pushing back the horizon of our solar system even more. Three and a half years later, this New Year's day 2019, New Horizons made its latest fly-by encounter with a rocky world beyond Pluto, names Ultima Thule. This strange new world is not quite like any we have ever seen before, and has been likened to a "snowman" because of its peculiar shape. So come to learn some of the latest updates from New Horizons - what have we learned over the years in the time it made its closest approach to Pluto, and what are we continuing to learn about some of the outer-most reaches of our solar system.
Casey McGrath is currently a physics graduate student at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. There he is a member of the Center for Gravitation, Cosmology, and Astrophysics. He is working on his PhD in gravitational wave physics, studying how we can use pulsars (a type of start that "flashes" like a lighthouse) to try and detect gravitational waves coming from objects like supermassive black holes orbiting each other at the centers of merging galaxies.
So tell your family!! Tell your Friends!! Bring Your Neighbors!! Come to the Sugar Maple, drink delicious beer and learn some SPACE SCIENCE!!! Hope to see you there!!
