TUE 15 NOVEMBER, RM ER225 at 8pm

[Carol McAlavey]

DART: EARTH STRIKES BACK – DR RYAN RIDDEN

On the 27th of September a spacecraft the size of a fridge collided with a small asteroid with a speed 8 times faster than a bullet. This incredible collision with the small moonlet asteroid of Didymos was our first test for planetary defence as part of the Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART). In this talk we’ll cover the background of this critical mission, it’s surprising results, and the contributions we made from New Zealand with the Ōtehīwai | Mt John Observatory.

After completing his Honours degree in Mathematical Physics at UC, Ryan undertook a PhD at the Australian National University, focusing on rapid explosions caused by the deaths of massive stars. After his PhD Ryan completed postdocs at the Space Telescope Science Institute and Johns Hopkins University where he built tools to enable science with space telescopes such as the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and JWST. Last year he returned to UC as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, working on Solar System science and building systems for the Ōtehīwai | Mt John Observatory. Next year Ryan will be beginning a Marsden Fast Start Fellowship where he will search for the fastest optical transients in the Universe.

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