Dr. JJ Hermes to Speak as Featured Guest for Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association Science Speaker Series

Kelly Bernatzky • June 16, 2021

On June 23 at 7pm, the Maria Mitchell Association (MMA) is hosting a live lecture presented by Dr. JJ Hermes. His talk, “Real-Life Death Stars: Measuring the Composition of Rocks on Alien Planets by Tearing Them Apart” is part of our FREE Science Speaker Series and will be held via Zoom.


White dwarf stars are the endpoints of all low-mass stars, including our Sun, and their high density means that all heavy elements rapidly settle out of their atmospheres. However, a large fraction of white dwarfs show heavy metals like calcium, oxygen, magnesium, and iron in their atmospheres. Dr. Hermes will discuss observations of the violent ends to many close-in planets and asteroids that are ripped apart and pollute white dwarf stars, revealing the bulk composition of rocky alien worlds.


Dr. JJ Hermes is an assistant professor in the Department of Astronomy at Boston University. His work is focused on high-precision observations of the endpoints of stars, planets, and binary systems. Before moving to Boston in 2019, Dr. Hermes was a Hubble Fellow at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, an ERC postdoctoral fellow at the University of Warwick in central England, and he completed a Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin.


To register for this event, please follow the link below:
 https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_4g0UQ_ogQmWHPj0UKQlhAA


For the full Science Speaker Series schedule, please visit our website here:

https://www.mariamitchell.org/science-speaker-series

 

This series is generously presented by our lead sponsor, Bank of America, and additional sponsors, White Elephant Resorts and Cape Air.   


The Maria Mitchell Association is a private non-profit organization. Founded in 1902, the MMA works to preserve the legacy of Nantucket native astronomer, naturalist, librarian, and educator, Maria Mitchell. The Maria Mitchell Association operates two observatories, a natural science museum, an aquarium, a research center, and preserves the historic birthplace of Maria Mitchell. A wide variety of science and history-related programming is offered throughout the year for people of all ages.

For Immediate Release

June 16 2021

Contact: Kelly Bernatzky, MMA Development Associate

kbernatzky@mariamitchell.org

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