It is now possible to directly detect and image planets around other stars.  This presentation will describe the instruments and techniques used to separate planet light from starlight and discuss some of the recent and exciting discoveries that have been made.

Imaging Exoplanets

Our Sun is embedded in a very thin hot medium of gas that is moving at ~56,000 mph with respect to it.  A portion of this interstellar medium is composed of charged particles that interact with the solar wind to form a massive interaction region at a distance three times greater than that of Pluto.  In this talk we'll discuss the characteristics of the solar wind and interstellar plasma, how we believe they interact, and some of the ways we have tried to measure the interaction with spacecraft and from the Earth.

The Big Boundary

Comet Siding Spring will pass by Mars on Oct. 19, 2014 at a distance of about 84,000 miles.  The comet will zoom by Mars at the incredible speed of 126,000 mph and the atmosphere of Mars will be bombarded by gas molecules and dust in the comet's coma, depositing significant amounts of energy and mass into the Martian atmosphere.  NASA and ESA (the European Space Agency) are currently operating spacecraft in orbit around Mars.  In particular, the MAVEN spacecraft, launched last November, will arrive at Mars on September 21, 2014.  These assets are well positioned to study comet Siding Spring and its effect on Mars.  Dr. Yelle will review what observations will be made and what we might learn about comets and Mars.

A Comet Approaches Mars

The vast Southern Ocean region surrounding the Antarctic continent is the only place in the global ocean where water upwells from more than two kilometers to the surface before sinking again. The deep of the Southern Ocean holds the key to the rate of warming of our atmosphere, because enormous amounts of heat and carbon can be stored in this ocean reservoir. Despite its critical importance, however, the Southern Ocean is the least observed and least understood region of the oceans.  We will talk about the revolution taking place in oceanography and climate science that will enable us to predict the ocean’s role in determining the climate of Earth.

How the Antarctic is helping Arizona keep its cool

Exactly 75 years ago, on Oct. 30, 1938, Orson Welles' radio play of "The War of the Worlds" convinced many Americans that we were being invaded by Mars. Now, we have spacecraft in orbit around Mars and on its surface, still looking for evidence of life on the Red Planet. We will discuss the progress of scientists' searches for life on Mars and how that has influenced writers of fiction. For those who wish to stay, we will then replay the Orson Welles "War of the Worlds."

The status of searches for Martians on the  75th anniversary of  "The War of the Worlds”

Asteroids were at one time called the vermin of the sky. Today we think they could hold secrets to the beginning of the Solar System, the source of water and organics on Earth, and even act as filling stations for future space travelers. All along the way, the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory has been a pioneer in the discovery and study of these important members of the solar family. Come hear about asteroids, how they formed, what they tell us about our own origins, and why they are suddenly so interesting.

What's up with all the talk about Asteroids?

An exploding new scientific field – the discovery and characterization of planets around other stars – is expanding the boundaries of planetary science far beyond the confines of our solar system. To date, nearly 3,000 of these so-called "exoplanets" have been discovered. It is an amazing moment: For the first time in human history, the number of planets known outside the solar system greatly exceeds the number known inside it. Several dozen of these newly discovered exoplanets are bright and close enough that, amazingly, we are able to characterize the composition, temperature, climate and weather in their atmospheres. In this talk Showman will survey this exciting new field and show how it holds promise of revealing the broad range of possible climates and Earth's place in it.

Weather and climate on planets orbiting other stars: A new frontier in planetary science

Evening Lectures - Dr. Tom Zega on Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Dr. Ilaria Pascucci on Wednesday, September 05, 2012 at 7:00:00 PM

Robert Strom, Professor Emeritus, gave a talk titled "Exploring Mercury: The Iron Planet." The "MESSENGER" mission now orbiting Mercury is sending back data that shows Mercury is far different than anything else in the solar system. The composition is very different from the moon and other terrestrial planets, indicating it did not form at its present distance from the sun. There are new bizarre surface features, some of which are much younger than previously believed possible. Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2011.

Exploring Mercury: The Iron Planet

Mars has long been thought to be currently cold, dry and geologically dead. However, high-resolution images, especially those from the HiRISE camera, have shown the martian surface to be unexpectedly active. Dunes are on the move, marching over the martian landscape at the same time that gullies are being formed on their slopes by some mysterious wintertime process. Avalanches of snow and frost in the polar regions are common in certain seasons where icy landforms also evolve in shape and size from year to year. Most recently, HiRISE has also observed dark streaks that lengthen downhill in the summer, probably caused by flow of liquid water. Focusing on the things that are active on Mars today, Dr. Byrne will provide a high-resolution tour of a planetary neighbor that looks more Earth-like than ever before. Presented Wednesday, Nov 16, 2011

Mars: Active and Icy

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will orbit and explore asteroid 1999 RQ36 for more than a year before closing in and collecting a sample of pristine organic material that may have seeded Earth with the building blocks that led to life. NASA has selected the University of Arizona to lead a sample-return mission to an asteroid. The team is led by Michael Drake, director of the UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. will manage the mission for NASA. Lockheed Martin will build the spacecraft.

OSIRIS-REx: NASA Sample Return Mission from a Primitive Asteroid

The mission of the Catalina Sky Survey is to contribute to the inventory of near-earth objects (NEOs), or more specifically, the potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) that pose an impact risk to Earth and it's inhabitants. The identification of the iridium anomaly at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary (Alvarez et al., 1980), associated Chicxulub impact crater (Hildebrand et al., 1991) and the Permian- Triassic "great dying" possibly being associated with Australian Bedout crater (Becker et al., 2004) strongly suggest that impacts by minor planets play an important role in the evolution of life.  Oct. 20, 2008.

The Search for Hazardous Asteroids from Mt. Lemmon

Abstract: Over 5,000 asteroids exist in near-Earth space. Many of these objects are more easily accessible than the surface of the moon. These bodies record the ancient history of our solar system and represent the largest potential natural disaster facing mankind. In addition, they represent significant natural resources for space exploration in the form of water, hydrocarbons, metals and building materials. Over the coming decades, these objects may be the target of intense exploration to discern their ancient history and pave the way for large-scale human settlement of space.

The Science and Exploration of Near-Earth Asteroids

Greenberg was a 25-year member of the Galileo Imaging Team and is currently a member of a science definition team that is planning a possible NASA flagship mission to Europa. He led a small group of graduate students at the UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory in analyzing Galileo's high-resolution views of Europa in the last decade. Galileo showed Europa's surface is anything but smooth. Its surface is covered with vast crisscrossing systems of mountain-sized ridges, jumbled regions of seemingly chaotic terrain and patches that suggest upwellings of new surface materials from below.

Unmasking Europa: The Search for Life on Jupiter’s Ocean Moon

Peter H. Smith was Principal Investigator of the Phoenix Mars Mission.

The Phoenix Mission: A Trip to the Martian Arctic

Abstract: The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is returning spectacular high-resolution, color, three-dimensional images of Mars. By late 2008 or early 2009, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will be launched, arriving at the moon three days later. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera will return images that are at as high resolution as those from HiRISE. This talk will discuss why scientists want to compare the high-resolution images of the moon and Mars. The moon is like a "control experiment" when it comes to showing the effects of impacts and volcanism on a dry planet, processes which also occur in the ice-rich crust of Mars. April 22, 2008.

New Vistas of the Moon and Mars

Abstract: On July 4, 2005, NASA deliberately collided a 700-pound spacecraft with comet Tempel 1 at a speed of 22,500 miles per hour. The object of this kamikaze mission was to find out what is below a comet's surface. Although the dust blown out by the impact obscured the final crater, the mission swept away old ideas about comets and revealed a new vision of cometary structure. This lecture will discuss the mission itself, some old ideas about comets and the new ideas that came from this daring experiment. Feb. 26, 2008.

Scientific Results of NASA's Deep Impact Mission

Abstract: Instruments aboard the Cassini Orbiter have revealed that Saturn's giant moon, Titan, is a world of lakes, streams, mountains and, possibly, ice volcanoes. This lecture will focus on radar images that are giving scientists first-of-a-kind views of an exotic world that may yield insights about Earth's past and future. In the spring of 2001, Dr. Lunine accepted the position of David C. Duncan Professor of Astronomy at Cornell. Lecture given Jan. 22, 2008.

Radar on Titan: New Discoveries about Methane Lakes and Streams

LPL Evening Lecture Series

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