Meteors, Meteorites, and Asteroids,Oh My!

Laurel Ridge Community College, in partnership with the Shenandoah Astronomical Society, invites you to reserve your seat for “Meteors, Meteorites, and Asteroids, Oh My!” The in-person event – it will also be available online – is scheduled for 7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 14, in the Corron Community Development Center on the college’s Middletown Campus.
 
Renowned NASA planetary scientist Michael Kelley will discuss his agency’s study of asteroids and the potential risk of one colliding with Earth. Dr. Kelley, who has an asteroid named after him in recognition of his work, joined the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in 2008. He is a program scientist for the Near-Earth Object Observations Program in the Planetary Defense Coordination Office, and oversees the Antarctic Search for Meteorites Program, and is the program scientist for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey, Janus and NEOWISE missions.

Additionally, Dr. Kelley is the discipline scientist for the Solar System Observations program, as well as for other research and analysis and scientific programs. He served as program scientist for the EPOXI and Stardust-NExT comet encounter missions, the Dawn mission to Vesta and Ceres and for the Planetary Data System.