What do we really know about the outer solar system?
a public lecture by
Dr Phil Sutton
University of Lincoln
Tuesday 1 October 2019
6 pm – 7:20 pm
Newton Lecture Theatre INB0114 in the Isaac Newton building, University of Lincoln
Book a place
Of the thousands of spacecraft sent into space in the last 60 years only a handful have made it to Jupiter and beyond. The outer solar system stretches from around 5 – 100,000 times the average distance between the Sun and Earth. We will take a journey through the outer planets into the relatively unknown outer solar system. Here, recent spacecraft images are revealing binary asteroids and even some with ring systems around them.
Phil Sutton graduated in Physics with Astrophysics from Nottingham Trent University. He worked at the physics department of Loughborough University for 10 years where he also completed a PhD degree on Saturn’s narrow F ring. One of aims of his work was to create numerical models to replicate observations taken by the Cassini spacecraft. Phil joined the University of Lincoln in September 2017 and leads a new research direction in astrophysics in Lincoln.
Distinguished Maths & Physics Public Lectures 
First of all, thank-you to all involved in putting on the public lecture series; as an academic it’s always nice to have an opportunity to do something outside of my own area. On this occasion I attended with my husband, who has an interest in astronomy. As an arts & humanities researcher (and self-confessed science duffer) I was apprehensive that I would find the lecture difficult to follow, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. The level of presentation was such that I felt engaged with it throughout, and my husband and I both left feeling that we had had an enjoyable evening. On the way home we discussed whether ‘Planet 9’ might in fact be the Death Star.
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First of all, thank-you to all involved in putting on the public lecture series; as an academic it’s always nice to have an opportunity to do something outside of my own area. On this occasion I attended with my husband, who has an interest in astronomy. As an arts & humanities researcher (and self-confessed science duffer) I felt apprehensive that I would find the lecture difficult to follow, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. The level of presentation was such that I felt engaged with it throughout, and my husband and I both left feeling that we had had an enjoyable evening. On the way home we discussed whether ‘Planet 9’ might in fact be the Death Star.
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Really appreciate these lectures (and the refreshments!) because as an an arts/humanities person I’m keen to learn more about scientific subjects and these speakers provide a readily understandable introduction – thank you to all of them and the University for making this possible.
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Thank you so much for the time and effort that goes into these free public presentations. I’m not an academic so I really appreciate the layman tempo and level of the information. The latest one by Dr Phil Sutton was very interesting, and I think I retained some of the information! And thank you for the coffee and cake 😀
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family enjoyed this – and it was educational!
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Excellent lecture which provided a top class overview in a very accessible manner.
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the 3 generations who come to see the shows as a family treet enjoyed this latest show and returned home with a little more knowledge
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Very interesting lecture by a competent speaker. Well worth attending.
Amusing spelling of ‘geyser’ on one slide.
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Really beautiful lecture, thankyou for this. Lectures like this are uplifting and remind us that there is so much more to life and the universe than daily politics. More of these happening in public would generally help us humans to see the bigger picture and elevate our daily lives in these difficult times. The universe seems a lot more connected now from this lecture than it used to be — when I was a kid there was nothing at all between solar systems (except for hyperspace and occasionally some Thargoids) but so interesting to hear that now there seems to be stuff passing through every year, maybe transporting materials or even life between then.
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Very good overview of our current ideas on the outer SS. Well presented for a non academic audience
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