The 2013-14 Frontiers of Astronomy Lecture Series will begin with a talk by Steven Hauck, associate professor of Planetary Geodynamics, on Thursday, Oct. 17, at 8 p.m. in the Murch Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
In his lecture, “Mercury and the MESSENGER Mission,” Hauck will address the wealth of knowledge amassed by NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft, which spent two and a half years exploring Mercury. Hauck will discuss the discovery of surprisingly recent volcanism, the larger than expected shifting of the planet’s crust, its equally enigmatic interior and magnetic field, and what the breadth of this knowledge says about how planets form and operate.
The lecture, presented by the Case Western Reserve University Department of Astronomy, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and the Cleveland Astronomical Society, is free and open to the public.
Light refreshments will be served.
For more information on the lecture series, visit the Department of Astronomy’s website.