TinkerMill Presents: Marc W. Buie, Co-Investigator of the NASA Lucy Mission

Please join us for our next TinkerMill Presents: 🔭 The NASA Lucy Mission:  Goals & Status Presented by Dr. Marc W. Buie, co-investigator

+ 🍴 Potluck with smoked meats supplied by a couple of our generous members. Please bring a side or dessert if you are able! Potluck sign-up sheet here. 

More about the Lucy Mission:

Launched in October 2021, Lucy is on its way to investigate asteroids in the Jupiter Trojan region. It has two engineering targets and five prime mission targets. I will present a short overview of the mission and its goals as well as an update on spacecraft status. Part of my work for this mission was to pursue the early reconnaissance of the primary mission targets through the use of occultations. These results are shaping development of the mission operations. These results came from efforts supported by communities around the world that help run the small telescopes and collect crucial data. I will provide a quick update on what we’ve learned about the targets. The presentation will include a live demo of the observing equipment and we’ll discuss how the community, including TinkerMill members, can get involved.

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More about our Presenter, Dr. Marc Buie: 

Dr. Marc Buie is a graduate of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona. Dr. Buie has worked at the University of Hawaii, Space Telescope Science Institute, Lowell Observatory, and now the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder. Pluto has been a central theme of Buie's research for decades and is a member of the New Horizons science team. He also discovered the extended mission target, Arrokoth, and co-discovered moons, as well as more than a thousand additional small bodies in the outer solar system. He is a member of the Lucy mission science team and is busy learning more about its targets through the use of occultations.

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