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HEP-Astro Seminar | The Coolest Place in the Solar System: New Worlds Beyond Neptune from the Dark Energy Survey

David Gerdes (U-M Physics)
Monday, October 23, 2017
4:00-5:00 PM
335 West Hall Map
The Dark Energy Survey is carrying out a 5-year survey of one-eighth of the sky using the 4-meter Blanco telescope in Chile and its state-of-the-art 570 Mpix camera, DECam. Though this dataset was primarily envisioned for cosmology and extragalactic science, our University of Michigan group has developed it into a powerful tool to study the solar system beyond Neptune. The hundreds of new objects we've discovered include a dwarf-planet-sized object at nearly three times Pluto's distance, and several "extreme trans-Neptunian objects" whose orbits may hint at the presence of a ~10 earth-mass ninth planet. I'll discuss these discoveries in our own cosmic back yard, and their implications for what may lie beyond.
Building: West Hall
Event Type: Workshop / Seminar
Tags: Physics, Science
Source: Happening @ Michigan from Department of Physics, HEP - Astro Seminars