NRM/NVR Lezing: Small Worlds of the Solar System

On Saturday 7 March, nearly 40 NVR members enjoyed a fascinating lecture by Rob Walrecht at the Nationaal Ruimtevaart Museum, who guided us through two decades of remarkable discoveries across our Solar System.

Rob presented a rich overview of the science made possible by an international fleet of spacecraft and landers exploring comets, asteroids and dwarf planets. With clear explanations and stunning high-resolution images and videos, he revealed the extraordinary astrogeological processes shaping these distant worlds—where extreme temperatures and tenuous, alien atmospheres create landscapes unlike anything on Earth.

After a short break, the journey continued to the Pluto system. We explored the discoveries from the 2015 flyby of the New Horizons spacecraft: cryovolcanism, ice volcanoes, towering cliffs, vast chasms and frozen glaciers. Rob concluded with New Horizons’ even more distant 2019 encounter with Arrokoth, a primordial object in the Kuiper Belt.

Adding a special touch to the evening, Rob also displayed several of his beautifully crafted 3D-printed, hand-painted scale models of these small worlds. Attendees had the opportunity to view and purchase from a selection of his educational planispheres, posters and books.

We were privileged to learn from Rob, a passionate and knowledgeable space and astronomy educator for more than 40 years.

Many thanks as well to our friends and gracious hosts at the Nationaal Ruimtevaart Museum in Lelystad (Aviodrome).

We’re already looking forward to the next lecture in this monthly series!