Uploaded July 2020 | Updated September 2026, 8 hours ago
This week’s episode takes us to the outer edge of the Solar System as we chat with two scientists studying Kuiper Belt Objects like Pluto and other small bodies. We’ll talk about the New Horizons mission to Pluto and Arrakoth, what’s next for the ongoing mission, and what kinds of things we can learn about tiny objects billions of miles away just by using small ground-based telescopes.
Dr. Fran Bagenal is a Professor Emeritus at CU Boulder and has been involved in a number of planetary science missions, including Voyager, Galileo, Cassini, New Horizons, and Juno. She has sat on or chaired a growing number of NASA assessment groups, advisory councils, and review boards, and has received numerous awards for excellence in research and teaching. Her enthusiasm for teaching and lecturing is legendary and she may be the only CU APS faculty with an IMDB page!
Ryder Strauss, a CU alumnus, who for the past few years has been part of the core team of RECON, the Research and Education Collaborative Occultation Network. RECON is a network of citizen volunteer astronomers which seeks to measure the shapes and sizes of outer solar system objects by measuring their shadows as they block out the light from distant stars. He has been involved in all levels of the project, from supporting prediction efforts to coordinating observations to analyzing the volunteers' data.
Fiske is one of the largest planetariums in the US, having served CU Boulder & the local community since 1975. We offer a diverse range of fulldome films, live talks, laser and liquid sky shows, as well as public gatherings for astronomical and NASA-related events.
Follow Fiske Planetarium:
Website | https://www.colorado.edu/fiske
Instagram | instagram.com/fiskeplanet
Facebook | facebook.com/teamfiske
This week’s episode takes us to the outer edge of the Solar System as we chat with two scientists studying Kuiper Belt Objects like Pluto and other small bodies. We’ll talk about the New Horizons mission to Pluto and Arrakoth, what’s next for the ongoing mission, and what kinds of things we can learn about tiny objects billions of miles away just by using small ground-based telescopes.
Dr. Fran Bagenal is a Professor Emeritus at CU Boulder and has been involved in a number of planetary science missions, including Voyager, Galileo, Cassini, New Horizons, and Juno. She has sat on or chaired a growing number of NASA assessment groups, advisory councils, and review boards, and has received numerous awards for excellence in research and teaching. Her enthusiasm for teaching and lecturing is legendary and she may be the only CU APS faculty with an IMDB page!
Ryder Strauss, a CU alumnus, who for the past few years has been part of the core team of RECON, the Research and Education Collaborative Occultation Network. RECON is a network of citizen volunteer astronomers which seeks to measure the shapes and sizes of outer solar system objects by measuring their shadows as they block out the light from distant stars. He has been involved in all levels of the project, from supporting prediction efforts to coordinating observations to analyzing the volunteers' data.
Fiske is one of the largest planetariums in the US, having served CU Boulder & the local community since 1975. We offer a diverse range of fulldome films, live talks, laser and liquid sky shows, as well as public gatherings for astronomical and NASA-related events.
Follow Fiske Planetarium:
Website | https://www.colorado.edu/fiske
Instagram | instagram.com/fiskeplanet
Facebook | facebook.com/teamfiske
