Moon Night 2020: Families Night

***Children/Family event*** LINK to sign-up for online event

Monday 7 December marks the 48th anniversary of the Apollo 17 launch and to commemorate this Luna anniversary we’re inviting you to come and join our Moon experts to hear about the fascinating celestial body that is our Moon.

The event will be hosted by Dr Natalie Starkey, the Outreach and Public Engagement Officer in the School of Physical Sciences, The Open University. She will introduce our four amazing speakers Ben Rider-Stokes, Lucy Gradwell, Hannah Sargeant and Tara Hayden as they take you on a tour of the Moon’s surface, explain what the Moon is made from, how the Moon was made and how the Moon has changed over millions of years. We’ll also be taking you into the future by explaining how our research into water on the Moon is helping to shape future missions.

The talk will be held in MS Teams and will also be streamed on the day with links provided nearer the time.

Programme

4:30 – 5:00pm  “Fly me to the Moon” – a virtual trip to the Moon

Join Lunar scientist Hannah Sargeant for a trip to the Moon. You'll visit the lunar landing sites and fly to craters that hold water that will be used for future human exploration of the Moon.

5:15 – 6:15pm Lunar scientist live Q & A

Join our Lunar scientists for a live Q&A session all about the Moon. Send your questions to: STEM-Communications@open.ac.uk in advance or on the night.

6:15 – 6:45pm “Fly me to the Moon” – a virtual trip to the Moon

Join Lunar scientist Hannah Sargeant for a trip to the Moon. You'll visit the lunar landing sites and fly to craters that hold water that will be used for future human exploration of the Moon.

Speakers

Dr Natalie Starkey (Host)

Dr Starkey is the Outreach and Public Engagement Officer in the School of Physical Sciences in the Faculty of STEM at The Open University. She is also a writer and science communicator. Natalie has a background in science research, with an MSci. from Durham University and a PhD from University of Edinburgh. She has studied volcanoes in the arctic and Caribbean, and analysed specks of space dust from comets and asteroids.

Ben Rider-Stokes

Ben studied Geology at University as a degree; Planetary Science as a Master of Research and is now undertaking a PhD looking for water in extremely old meteorites from out of space.

Ben will be talking about how we know rocks are from out of space, what the moon is made of (it is not cheese!), how we find meteorites on earth and how we investigate water in lunar minerals.

Lucy Gradwell

Lucy grew up spending a lot of time outdoors, so chose to study Geology at the University of Manchester. She did her Master’s thesis in lunar science which first sparked her interest in studying the Moon. At The Open University she researches the origin of water on the Moon by looking at the chemistry of the rocks.

Lucy will be talking about the geology of the Moon, why the Moon looks the way it does and how the Moon evolved.

Hannah Sargeant

Hannah is a planetary scientist focussed on finding water on the Moon so that we can use it to support a Moon base one day. She has a physics degree from the University of Sheffield and a masters in space exploration systems from the University of Leicester. She also has a PGCE in physics and maths from when she used to teach in schools.

Hannah will be taking us on a fly over of the Moon’s surface and explaining how we find water on the Moon, why we need water for a Moon base, and upcoming Moon missions.

Tara Hayden

Tara studied Earth Science (Geology) at the University of Glasgow, and discovered a fascination in understanding how rocks work. Laboratory research on Martian meteorites in her final year of university led her to apply for a PhD at the Open University, where she now studies water in lunar meteorites.

Moon Night 2020

This event is part of Moon Night 2020, which is being offered online this year over three nights from December 7-9th 2020. Follow the links below for the other events.

Tuesday 8th December 2020: IOP online public lecture as part of Moon Night 2020 - "The Moon’s water: past, current, and future perspectives”

Wednesday 9th December 2020: The 6th Annual Colin Pillinger Memorial Event: Mars, and Other Places we Care About; Planetary Protection in the Commercial Spaceflight Era