Dr Helen Maynard-Casely will take us on a journey to get to know the planets of our solar system more intimately through understanding their varied and downright dangerous insides. We’ve yet to actually dive under the clouds of the gas giants, crack through the ice of the dwarf planets or drill into the rocks of the terrestrial planets—so how do we know what lies beneath planetary surfaces? Every planetary interior a high-temperature and high-pressure environment and pressure can have amazing effects on even the simplest of materials. To build up the pictures of planetary interiors requires the merging of keenly observed astronomy, complex theoretical calculations and the most elegant of experiments. Dr Maynard-Casely will explain how we’ve got to the pictures that we do have, how we can re-create these planetary conditions here in Australia, and where there’s work to be done!
Dr Helen Maynard-Casely is a planetary scientist based at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), where she uses the neutrons and synchrotron X-rays to investigate the materials that make up our solar system. She has a PhD in high-pressure physics from the University of Edinburgh and has been able to collect data in facilities all over the world, blowing up a few diamonds along the way. Always keen to tell anyone who’ll listen about planetary science, she writes a column ‘The Shores of Titan’ for The Conversation and tweets @Helen_E_MC.
5:30pm Refreshments
6:00pm – 7:00pm Talk and live streaming
View the rest of the Dawn of the new space age series
Dr Helen Maynard-Casely will take us on a journey to get to know the planets of our solar system more intimately through understanding their varied and downright dangerous insides. We’ve yet to actually dive under the clouds of the gas giants, crack through the ice of the dwarf planets or drill into the rocks of the terrestrial planets—so how do we know what lies beneath planetary surfaces? Every planetary interior a high-temperature and high-pressure environment and pressure can have amazing effects on even the simplest of materials. To build up the pictures of planetary interiors requires the merging of keenly observed astronomy, complex theoretical calculations and the most elegant of experiments. Dr Maynard-Casely will explain how we’ve got to the pictures that we do have, how we can re-create these planetary conditions here in Australia, and where there’s work to be done!
Dr Helen Maynard-Casely is a planetary scientist based at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), where she uses the neutrons and synchrotron X-rays to investigate the materials that make up our solar system. She has a PhD in high-pressure physics from the University of Edinburgh and has been able to collect data in facilities all over the world, blowing up a few diamonds along the way. Always keen to tell anyone who’ll listen about planetary science, she writes a column ‘The Shores of Titan’ for and tweets .
5:30pm Refreshments
6:00pm – 7:00pm Talk and live streaming
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