Former Nasa scientist talks about missions
DIOCESAN School for Girls (DSG) and St Andrew’s College recently hosted an international visitor with universal credentials – former Nasa scientist, Dr Anne Verbiscer.
Verbiscer spent two days prior to the recent school holidays at St Andrew’s College and DSG, addressing science classes and each school as a whole.
Verbiscer is an associate research professor in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Virginia in the US.
She has also worked with data from the Cassini Mission exploration of Saturn from 2007 until it ended in September last year.
She is working on the science team for the New Horizons mission, which is exploring the Pluto system and Kuiper Belt beyond.
In her address to both schools, Verbiscer explained how the New Horizons mission had revealed details about the surface of Pluto and its moons.
The space craft, having orbited Pluto is now continuing towards the Kuiper Belt beyond Pluto and is due to pass the Kuiper Belt Object – MU69 – on January 1 next year, to reveal more about this planetary body and its surface.
Verbiscer told the story of the Cassini mission and how she became involved when water plumes from geysers in fissures on Saturn’s moon Enceladus were observed.
She also visited junior science classes to answer questions.