The 2007 Exploring Space Lectures, Journey Through the Outer Solar System, will feature four world-class scholars discussing current missions to the distant realm of the gas giants, the icy Kuiper Belt, and beyond.

As each new technology complementing the telescope was applied to the question, "What is the Universe?", our understanding of that question changed in profound ways. Dr. Vera Rubin of the Carnegie Institution of Washington will discuss this question.

Andrea K. Dupree is a Senior Astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, part of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

Learn about how the study of space weather is vital to the continued success of these missions in space to ensure minimal disruption to our lives here on Earth.

Exploring Planets Outside the Solar System. In this Exploring Space lecture Caltech astronomer Heather Knutson will describe ongoing efforts to understand planets outside our solar system. Free tickets are required.

In this lecture, NASA Chief Scientist Jim Green will discuss NASA’s future plans for going to the Moon to stay and then traveling on to Mars and how the Moon provides a natural, yet challenging, environment for our next-generation robotic and human explorers. 

Tickets are free but required.

The 2007 Exploring Space Lectures, Journey Through the Outer Solar System, will feature four world-class scholars discussing current missions to the distant realm of the gas giants, the icy Kuiper Belt, and beyond.

Fewer and fewer planets in our Solar System have been found to be viable for life, although we are still looking. But what about the more than 300 “exoplanets” beyond our Solar System that have now been discovered? 

Neil Gehrels is Chief, Astroparticle Physics Laboratory, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.

Robert Pappalardo, Europa Mission project scientist at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will discuss NASA’s plans to send a robotic mission to evaluate Europa’s potential for life and address one of humanity’s most fundamental questions: Are we alone in the universe?