Megan Argo

We all know space is a very big place – the fastest rocket to ever leave the Earth took nine years to reach Pluto, and that’s just our cosmic back yard. But when we hear news stories about asteroids passing close to Earth, our local corner of the Universe can sometimes feel uncomfortably crowded. Have you ever wondered just how much stuff is floating around in the inner solar system? How many asteroids are there, and what are they made of? Just how much of a risk do they pose, and what are the chances of another impact on the same scale as that which wiped out the dinosaurs many millions of years ago? This talk is a crash course in planetary defence as we tour the local astronomical neighbourhood, looking at the numbers, sizes, shapes, and even composition of asteroids. We will take a look at how astronomers go about detecting asteroids, why this is becoming more difficult all the time, and how we might do something about it if we did spot one coming.

In 2020 the Royal Astronomical Society celebrates its 200th anniversary. From the first meeting, when fourteen gentlemen sat down to dinner at the Freemason’s Tavern in London in January 1820, the Society has grown to a diverse membership of more than 4000 geophysicists and astronomers, both amateur and professional. Astronomy has come a long way in that time, and our understanding of the Universe has changed fundamentally. What didn’t we know 200 years ago? Where is astronomy going next? Join Megan for a look at some exciting upcoming telescopes and future space missions, and some predictions for what we might discover in the next 200 years…