David Kriegler, an instructor of astronomy and physics at UNO, is the guest speaker for Tuesday’s Science Cafe.
He will talk about asteroids and comets, what they are, and the little chunks of material they leave behind
He says he will also talk about the comet that hit Russia last month, the damage it did and how big it was.
Kriegler says he hopes people come away from his presentation with an appreciation for the heavens, as well as the knowledge that Earth is always in danger of being hit by things.
"I’m not looking to spend a lot of money to do this, but we do need to be consciously vigilant. And we don’t really have a way to stop bodies coming and hitting the Earth. I think we need to come together as a world and figure out what we can do if something is actually coming at us and how we can stop it. Because in the year 2014, there’s a comet that’s coming through the solar system that has a fairly high likelihood of hitting Mars.”
Kriegler says the problem is that the comet will not be visible until it reaches Jupiter.
At that point, he says we would only have a year to a year and a half warning that this big chunk of ice is coming towards us.
Kriegler says there is some urgency for the U.S. to get serious about what we can do to stop a potential impact.
The Science Café takes place at 7:00 tomorrow night at the Slowdown and is complimentary.