astronomy

Michele Bannister

Michele Bannister is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Michele Bannister rather than just read about it. In short: Michele Bannister (born 1986) is a New Zealand planetary astronomer and science communicator at the University of Canterbury, who has participated in surveying the outermost Solar System for trans-Neptunian objects. Early life and education Bannister is from Waitara, New Zealand.

Key takeaways

Michele Bannister belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Michele Bannister to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Michele Bannister from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Michele Bannister (born 1986) is a New Zealand planetary astronomer and science communicator at the University of Canterbury, who has participated in surveying the outermost Solar System for trans-Neptunian objects.

Early life and education Bannister is from Waitara, New Zealand. She attended Waitara High School, where she won the Korean War Essay Competition. She studied astronomy and geology at the University of Canterbury, graduating in 2007 with first class honours. She spent nine weeks working in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Before starting her PhD she completed a summer school in Castel Gandolfo. She earned her PhD in 2014, working on trans-Neptunian objects at the Australian National University. She searched for new dwarf planets at the Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope. The telescope survived the Warrumbungles fire which destroyed twelve properties in Coonabarabran. Whilst at Australian National University she played in the Flying Disc team.

Research and career In 2014 she was co-investigator on the COLours for the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS). She was appointed a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Victoria and the National Research Council (Canada) in 2013. Whilst at the University of Victoria she discovered a trans-Neptunian object (2015 RR245) with the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope. 2015 RR245 is near the Kuiper belt. She played for a local Ultimate team, and published poetry. In August 2016 she joined Queen's University Belfast. She is on the Science Team of the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer. She was involved with the observation of ʻOumuamua, an interstellar object from another solar system that passed through our own in 2017. She studied the brightness of ʻOumuamua and presented the colour composite image. 10463 Bannister was named after her in 2017. In 2020 she returned to her alma mater, the University of Canterbury as a lecturer in astrophysics.

Public engagement Bannister is a popular science communicator, and has spoken at the Royal Society, The Planetary Society, SETI Institute, Irish Astronomical Society and European Astrofest. In 2013 she was a curator on the RealScientists channel. She reported on the images coming in from Pluto during the spacecraft flyby on Radio New Zealand and Nature in 2015. She discussed astronomy on Canadian radio station CFAX between 2015 and 2016. She appeared on the BBC Sky at Night in 2017 and 2018. She has written for The Conversation and The Planetary Society magazine, as well as contributing to Scientific American, Newsweek, National Geographic New Scientist, Slate and The Guardian.

Awards and honors Asteroid 10463 Bannister, discovered by Eleanor Helin and Schelte Bus at the Siding Spring Observatory in 1979, was named in her honor. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 13 April 2017 (M.P.C. 103975).

Works

Godfrey, Myfanwy J., Michele T. Bannister, D. Nobes, and Ronald S. Sletten. "3D time-lapse imaging of polygonal patterned ground in the McMurdo dry valleys of Antarctica." (2008). Fitzsimmons, Alan, Colin Snodgrass, Ben Rozitis, Bin Yang, Méabh Hyland, Tom Seccull, Michele T. Bannister, Wesley C. Fraser, Robert Jedicke, and Pedro Lacerda. "Spectroscopy and thermal modelling of the first interstellar object 1I/2017 U1 ʻOumuamua." Nature Astronomy 2, no. 2 (2018): 133. Bannister, Michele T., Megan E. Schwamb, Wesley C. Fraser, Michael Marsset, Alan Fitzsimmons, Susan D. Benecchi, Pedro Lacerda et al. "Col-OSSOS: colors of the interstellar planetesimal 1I/Oumuamua." arXiv preprint arXiv:1711.06214 (2017).

References

External links Official website Exploring the outer Solar System: now in vivid colour – Michele Bannister (SETI Talks) on YouTube (min. 58:50)

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Michele Bannister

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Michele Bannister claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Michele Bannister before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Michele Bannister ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Michele Bannister

In research: Michele Bannister appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Michele Bannister in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Michele Bannister is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1986 births, 21st-century New Zealand astronomers, Academic staff of the University of Victoria, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Michele Bannister outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Michele Bannister in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Michele Bannister means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Michele Bannister out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Michele Bannister in simple terms?

Why does Michele Bannister matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Michele Bannister?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Michele Bannister.