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  • NAU Astronomy & Planetary Science In the News

NAU Astronomy & Planetary Science In the News

Cristina Thomas’ interview about the DART mission with NPR’s “Short Wave” podcast.

Posted by Author on Source on December 9, 2022

DART: The Impacts Of Slamming A Spacecraft Into An Asteroid

“The DART mission, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, is essentially our first test of a kinetic impact for planetary defense.” says Cristina Thomas, assistant professor of Astronomy and Planetary Science at Northern Arizona University.

Filed Under: Astronomy and Planetary Science

Cristina Thomas was in the New York Times, and it was *not* about the DART mission

Posted by Ed on November 1, 2022

‘Planet Killer’ Asteroid Spotted That Poses Distant Risk to Earth

Several [asteroids] no doubt sneak about near Mercury and Venus. But it’s “incredibly difficult to discover objects interior to Earth’s orbit with our current discovery telescopes,” Dr. Thomas said. During most hours of the day, the sun blinds Earth’s telescopes and objects can be hunted only in the few minutes around twilight.

Filed Under: Astronomy and Planetary Science

Welcome to the space cam!

Posted by Author on Source on October 27, 2022

Clean room.

The students are on a multidisciplinary team led by associate professor Christopher Edwards, co-led by professor David Trilling, postdoctoral scholar Chris Haberle and associate professor Michael Shafer. They are building the cameras during classes with the goal of having fully flight-qualified instruments by March 2023.

Read the full article here!

Filed Under: Astronomy, Astronomy and Planetary Science

Cristina Thomas and NASA’s DART mission

Posted by Author on Source on September 28, 2022

On Monday [Sept. 26]at 4:13 p.m. (Arizona time), more than 7 million miles away, NASA’s DART mission, Double Asteroid Redirection Test, successfully slammed into the asteroid Dimorphos, making history as the first step toward a possible future planetary defense strategy (NAU Review, Sept. 28).

*****

For asteroid scientists, their work is just beginning.

By design, the crash occurred when the asteroids were fairly close to Earth.

That allowed telescopes on Earth to get a good look. About 40 of them were pointed at… Read more

Filed Under: Astronomy, Astronomy and Planetary Science

Mission control watch party of DART marking impact

Posted by Ed on

On Monday, [Sept. 26], at 4:13 p.m. (Arizona time), more than 7 million miles away, NASA’s DART mission, Double Asteroid Redirection Test, successfully slammed into the asteroid Dimorphos, making history as the first step toward a possible future planetary defense strategy.

Cristina Thomas, assistant professor in the Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science and team lead on the DART mission, along with Jason Wilder, vice president for research, were at Mission control in Laurel, Maryland to witness… Read more

Filed Under: Astronomy, Astronomy and Planetary Science

NASA’s unprecedented asteroid-deflection mission is more than ‘billiards in space,’ scientists say

Posted by Ed on September 12, 2022

“It’s going to be thrilling—and very stressful—but ultimately, I think we’re going to learn a lot,” says Cristina Thomas, a planetary scientist at Northern Arizona University who leads the observation team for the DART mission.

Read the full article here!

Filed Under: Astronomy, Astronomy and Planetary Science

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Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science
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Physical Sciences
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Flagstaff, Arizona 86011-6010
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