TIME: 02:30 PM May 10 (Monday), 2021

Location: Large Conference Room, 3rd floor, SHAO

Title: Science and Exploration of Solar System’s Small Bodies – Rosetta and Beyond

Speaker:：Dr. Xian Shi (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory)

Abstract: As left-overs from the formation phase of our Solar System, small bodies such as asteroids and comets, are considered the most primitive targets that we could reach for investigating the formation and evolution of planetary systems. The past thirty years have seen paradigm-shifting developments in our understanding of small bodies, owing largely to space missions that provide unprecedented data. In this talk, I would introduce my work in the science team of ESA’s Rosetta comet mission, which rendezvoused with its target comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko for more than two years. By combining high-resolution imaging data with realistic physical models, we were able to reproduce various phenomenon in the near-nucleus region of the comet, gaining insight on how comets work. With an increasing number of space missions targeting small bodies near and far, we are in an exciting era for new discoveries of our Solar System and the origin of life in it.

Brief CV: After getting her PhD degree from Shanghai Astronomical Observatory in 2012, Dr. Shi did two years of postdoc research in the DLR institute of planetary research in Berlin, studying the Martin moon Phobos. Afterwards, in 2014, she joined the Rosetta/OSIRIS team at Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in G？ttingen, investigating cometary activities with imaging data. Since 2021, she has been a junior group leader at Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, focusing on science and exploration of small bodies.