Astronomy Lecture - The History of the Solar System

Name: Astronomy Lecture - The History of the Solar System
Start: 2025-12-05T20:00:00-08:00
Location: 1216 E California Blvd, Pasadena, CA, United States, California 91125

Schedule

Fri, 05 Dec, 2025 at 08:00 pm

UTC-08:00

Location

1216 E California Blvd, Pasadena, CA, United States, California 91125 | Pasadena, CA

What do we know about our early solar system and how the planets formed? What can asteroids and meteorites reveal about our cosmic origins? Join us for a 30-minute lecture about the history of the solar system, followed by a panel Q&A consisting of several astrophysicists to answer your questions about astronomy and space science.
This public astronomy event will be hosted both in-person as well as live-streamed over YouTube Live. The lecture will be 30 minutes, followed by a 90-minute session of telescope-aided stargazing and a Q&A Panel consisting of experts in the department on a variety of astronomy and astrophysical topics. You can attend in person or interact with us through the YouTube interface. Event is free and open to all, no reservations necessary.
For more information including a link to the YouTube Livestream and directions to Caltech, click on the poster image or visit our webpage: http://outreach.astro.caltech.edu
Title: The History of the Solar System: Insights from JWST Observations of Asteroids
Lecturer: Katherine de Kleer
Abstract:
Earth and the other planets in our Solar System were born 4.5 billion years ago out of a disk of dust and gas orbiting our infant Sun. Some of the big open questions in this field are how, where, and when that dust coalesced into what became the precursor objects to our planets and then the planets themselves. Answering these questions requires a multi-pronged approach: we look at planetary systems like ours forming around other stars to see this process in action, and we study the leftover fragments from this time period in our own Solar System: asteroids and meteorites. Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and other observatories, we can identify the detailed composition of asteroids, which are made up of the same materials that formed our planets long ago. Such observations give us a new window into the early history of our Solar System.