Dr. Matthew Knight presents: The surprising value of comet morphology
Drawings of comets’ appearances date back at least two thousand years, making the study of comet ‘morphology’ among the oldest endeavors in all of astronomy. While many newer techniques have been invented to study comets, assessment of their morphology continues to hold scientific value today. I will discuss how I use specialized ‘narrowband’ comet filters on modestly sized telescopes to infer properties of the nuclei of active comets. Such work has occasionally yielded novel insights which are difficult or impossible to constrain using other techniques. I will also discuss how similar work can be conducted using off-the-shelf filters on non-professional telescopes, even from sea level in the Washington D.C. area.
All NOVAC members, guests, and the public are welcome to attend — no RSVP required. You can attend the meeting virtually via Google Meet. Sign on at 4 pm to connect with fellow astronomers. The meeting starts at 4:30 with club information and general announcements. Program speaker starts at 5:00 pm.
Dr. Knight will be presenting virtually. Join your NOVAC colleagues at 4:00 pm on Google Meet.
Biography
Dr. Matthew Knight is an associate professor in the Physics Department at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. He previously worked at Lowell Observatory (Flagstaff, AZ) and the University of Maryland. Matthew is interested in comets, asteroids, interstellar objects, and other ‘small bodies’ in the solar system, using observations from a variety of ground- and space-based telescopes to remotely study their physical properties. He has been involved with several space missions to comets and asteroids, notably including NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART) and the European Space Agency (ESA)’s follow-up mission Hera, as well as ESA’s forthcoming Comet Interceptor.
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Meeting Schedule
4:00 PM – Open participant discussion
4:30 PM – NOVAC news, announcements, and upcoming events
5:00 PM – Presentation
This program will be recorded and available a few days after the meeting on the Northern Virginia Astronomy Club YouTube channel.
