Abstract:
David Jewitt, professor of astronomy at UCLA, discusses the comet known as 3I/Atlas, which is only the third confirmed object to visit our corner of the cosmos from another star. David directed the Hubble Space Telescope to track and get some of the best photos and data of the comet.
Speaker:
David Jewitt grew up in working class London and became interested in the sky at a young age. Through (gratefully received) state-subsidized education, he went to the University of London, then moved to the US to be close to large telescopes, becoming a professor first at MIT, then the University of Hawaii and more recently at UCLA. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and recipient of the Shaw Prize in Astronomy and the Kavli Prize in Astrophysics, for work done on the Kuiper belt.