Library of Congress to host 2019 Earth & Space Science Talks

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Washington, Apr 13 (Canadian-Media): The annual Earth and Space Science lecture series, now in its fourteenth year, would be hosted by the Library of Congress (LOC), LOC reports said.​

The Library of Congress. Image credit: Twitter handle

The series of lectures would be presented in partnership with the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the Science, Technology, and Business Division at LOC.

All of the lectures are free and open to the public. The lectures are always held at 11:30 a.m. in the Mary Pickford Theater of the James Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Ave., S.E., Washington, D.C.

The currently scheduled lectures are:

Tuesday, April 30
“Apollo at 50”: 'The Lasting Effect of Exploration of the Lunar Surface on Our Current Exploration of the Moon' by Dr. Noah Petro.
Using data from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), Dr Petro would discuss re-evaluating the geological samples from a planetary body provided by the Apollo missions to the Moon. 

Thursday, May 9
“Solving the Puzzles of Planet Formation in the Modern Era of Planet-Hunting” by Dr. Elisa Quintana.

Dr. Quintana  would discuss the wide array of planetary systems that NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) may find. She would also describe the follow-up measurements that reveal clues as to which planets might be rocky and which may have Earth-like atmospheres, shedding light on how planets form and whether our Solar System is unique.

Thursday, June 13
“Hurricane Hunting NASA Style” 
'Using Space-Based and Airborne Measurements to Better Understand and Predict Hurricanes' by Dr. Scott A. Braun.
Dr Braun would discuss our current understanding of challenging changes in storm intensity, storm structure, precipitation and storm surge and the suite of tools that NASA provides to improve understanding of these storms.

 Thursday, Aug. 8
“Cosmic Explosions and Cosmic Accelerators” 
'Gamma-rays and Multi-messenger Astronomy' by Dr. Regina Caputo.
Dr Caputo  will discuss these jointly observed signals of astronomical processes, such as supernovae or gamma ray bursts and the contribution of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope at the forefront of this new era of astronomy.

Thursday, Sept. 12
“A Mud Matter” 
'The Recent Discovery of Organic Matter Preserved in 3-billion-year-old Mudstones on Mars' by Dr. Jennifer Eigenbrode.

Dr Eigenbrode will discuss the discovery of organic carbon molecules by NASA’s Curiosity rover, some of the building blocks of life, in mudstones from a 3-billion-year-old Martian lakebed, how it was preserved and what the source might be.

Thursday, Oct. 17
“Exploring our Escaping Atmosphere”
'Going Above the Top of the World to Watch the Sky' by Dr. Douglas Rowland.
Dr Rowland would throw light on the earth's daily loss of tons of its atmosphere to space.  He will also discuss the recent NASA suborbital rocket campaign and how these effects can be critical in determining the habitability of other planets.

 Thursday, Nov. 7
“From Sun to Solar Wind: The Perplexing Solar Corona and the Space Environment it Creates” by Dr. Nicholeen Viall.
Dr Viall will discuss recent observations from STEREO and the Parker Solar Probe which show the constantly roiling complex dynamic at work, even when the Sun is relatively quiet.

Thursday, Dec. 5
“Space Lasers and Satellite Measurements”
'Ushering in a New Era of Spaceborne Laser Altimetry Dependent on Satellite Geodesy' by Dr. Scott B. Luthcke.
Dr Luthcke would discuss about  the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter (ATLAS) aboard ICESat-2 and the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) instrument on the International Space Station, their performance thus far and their dependence on satellite geodesy.

LOC maintains one of the largest and most diverse collections of scientific and technical information in the world, Its Science, Technology and Business Division provides reference and bibliographic services and develops the general collections of the library in all areas of science, technology, business and economics.

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library offering access to the creative record of the United States, and from around the world, both on-site and online.
It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. ​​