It is well known that comets fall apart
but, until recently, we did not appreciate that asteroids
(essentially, just rocks in space) can do the same. For
example, the annual Geminid meteor stream is produced by
asteroid Phaethon. Despite a growing body of work, the
mechanisms behind Phaethon's disintegration remain mysterious.
I will discuss the newest observations and ideas about
asteroid disintegration, and show that this may be a general
phenomenon responsible for the destruction of most near-Sun
asteroids. Lastly, I will preview an upcoming and approved
mission that will send a spacecraft to Phaethon.
About the Speaker:
David Jewitt grew up in working class
London and became interested in the sky at a young age.
Through (gratefully received) state-subsidized education, he
went to the University of London, then moved to the US to be
close to large telescopes, becoming a professor first at MIT,
then the University of Hawaii and more recently at UCLA. He is
a member of the National Academy of Sciences and recipient of
the Shaw Prize in Astronomy and the Kavli Prize in
Astrophysics, for work done on the Kuiper belt.