Perseverance is the latest and most sophisticated probe ever sent to Mars. After six months in space, it will reach the Red Planet on February 18th. After a harrowing descent through the Martian atmosphere, NASA engineers plan to use parachutes, retrorockets, and a long tether to bring this car-sized rover down in the midst of Jezero Crater. Every Mars landing is challenging, but this may be the most difficult landing yet, given the complex terrain of this ancient lake bed that scientists hope to explore for signs of water and past life.
Join NASA Solar System Ambassador and Hamptons Observatory Senior Educator, William Francis Taylor, to watch the landing LIVE via Zoom and to learn about the rover's mission. The livestream will come from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory during critical moments as NASA's engineers watch the spacecraft descend and wait for the first messages from Perseverance on the Martian surface.
Hamptons Observatory Senior Educator, William Francis Taylor, has been a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador since 2014, lecturing about the universe around us and sharing his love of the heavens by giving guided tours of the sky through telescopes. He is a life-long East End resident.
To Register for this free virtual (Zoom) event, call the East Hampton Library: (631) 324-0222 Ext. 3 or go to:
www.eventbrite.com/d/online/east-hampton-library
Hamptons Observatory would like to thank East Hampton Library for its kind collaboration, and William Francis Taylor for sharing his expertise.
Hamptons Observatory (HO), a 501(c)(3) NYS nonprofit that relies on public support has served the South Fork since 2005. Its mission: to foster interest in science, particularly astronomy, through educational programs. Lectures, star parties, portable planetarium shows and other events are held throughout the South Fork, often in collaboration with other nonprofit organizations. HO has established the first astronomical observatory on the South Fork (on the campus of the Ross School in East Hampton), complete with Long Island's largest research-grade telescope; these facilities will soon be accessible over the internet to students, teachers, researchers and the general public. Hamptons Observatory offers all of its programs free-of-charge to encourage participation regardless of economic status. For further information or to make a tax-deductible donation to support our mission, please go to our website www.HamptonsObservatory.org. To be placed on our list for event notices, please email HamptonsObservatory@gmail.com
