Dr. Bruce Betts Talks Planetary Defense - Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion June 8, 2021
Bruce Betts of The Planetary Society talks about how we might protect Earth from wayward asteroids and comets.
Planetary defense, a solar eclipse, the Moon visits four planets in the night sky, an inside look at a new book about the work of Katherine Johnson, and more!
Hello everyone!
This week on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion, we welcome Dr. Bruce Betts to the show. He is Chief Scientist and LightSail Program Manager for The Planetary Society. We will be talking about near-Earth objects, and how we might protect our world from potentially-hazardous asteroids and comets.
But first, we journey back almost 75,000 years, to a time when the Toba volcano erupted, wiping out much of the human population at that time. Then, we look up at our planetary companion, the Moon, as it pays visits in the night sky to four planets of our Solar System throughout the month. And, we're gonna tell you how to see it happen. Plus, we get an inside look at an upcoming book about one of NASA's most-inspiring figures, Katherine Johnson. Finally, before welcoming Dr. Betts to the show, we learn about a solar eclipse taking place this week that's really for the snowbirds!
Watch the video version of this episode:
Interview with Dr. Bruce Betts of The Planetary Society. Video credit: The Cosmic Companion.
Or, listen to this episode as a podcast!
Check out our upcoming guests!
June 15 (s4/e24): Dr. Noah Petro, NASA’s Project Scientist for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), talking about returning to the Moon!
June 22 (s4/e25): ~just added~ Brittany Zimmerman, CEO of Yummet, on developing technology for space exploration and protecting the Earth.
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Thanks for watching, listening, and sharing!
James