In 1994, the world watched as Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 split into 22 pieces, smacked into Jupiter’s atmosphere, leaving bruises easily seen through low-powered telescopes.

What if such a comet were to hit Earth? How dangerous is Earth’s neighborhood? Can we prepare?

Impact Earth, the latest collaboration between the Houston Museum of Natural Science and Rice University, will attempt to answer these questions when the Burke Baker Planetarium premieres the show in May, with a worldwide release to follow.

Millions of asteroids and comets lurk among the planets, leftover bits and pieces from the solar system’s formation over 4_ billion years ago. Tom Jones, a planetary scientist and four-time Space Shuttle astronaut, will guide our exploration of these cosmic wayfarers to discover the roles they've played in our past and how they could affect our future in space and here on Earth.

The HMNS Astronomy and Volunteer Departments and the Rice Space Institute are sponsoring a brown bag lunch where you can talk with Dr. Jones and discover how perilous our cosmic neighborhood really is!

Festivities begin at 11:00 on May 4 with the unveiling of the rare meteorite that HMNS unearthed using ground penetrating radar (a first), followed by seating for a special Impact Earth show introduced by Tom Jones at 11:30. After the show, the audience will move to the Arnold Hall below the planetarium for a brown bag lunch with Q&A opportunities. Dr. Jones will also sign copies of his new book "Planetology: Unlocking the Secrets of the Solar System." The Rice Space Institute will provide drinks and dessert for the brown bag lunch.

Please RSVP to Sibyl Keller (HMNS) at skeller@hmns.org or Umbe Cantu (RSI) at umbe@rice.edu, if you can attend the planetarium show at 11:30 and/or the brown bag lunch. For those missing the show at 11:30, there will be another showing at 3:00 p.m. Seating in the planetarium and in Arnold Hall is limited so RSVPs are most important.