| School of Earth and Space Exploration

From Earth to Stars: Planetary Interiors and a New Chemistry

Lasers and diamonds are providing experimental access to the conditions existing deep inside terrestrial, giant and super-giant planets, revealing the material properties that control the state and evolution of planetary interiors. With pressures exceeding the forces defining the familiar structure of atoms, a new regime of chemical bonding (kilovolt chemistry) is being explored at conditions relevant to understanding the transition between planets and stars.

Read more about Raymond Jeanloz Colloquium Abstract (Dec 2, 2015)

Far-Infrared and Submillimeter Astronomy at Cornell University

I will discuss the where, how, and why of submillimeter astronomy at Cornell University. The discussion will include a brief introduction to the astrophysics of the far-infrared and submillimeter spectral lines - how they cool interstellar gas clouds and trace the physical properties of both the gas clouds and nearby stars. I will then discuss how we detect this radiation with instrumentation built - by students - in our lab at Cornell.

Read more about Gordon Stacey Colloquium Abstract (Nov 18, 2015)

Patterns in long-lived crustal magmatism based on comparison of the Aucanquilcha Volcanic Cluster of the central Andes and the Tuloumne Intrusive Cluster of the Sierra Nevada

The petrologic history of 11 million years of magmatism is recorded in a cluster of more than 20 volcanoes in the central Andes, where the crust is thick. Remarkable parallelism in lifespan, volume evolution, depth of magma storage, and compositional development indicate that these systems provide related perspectives on crustal feedbacks during protracted magmatism.

Read more about Anita Grunder Colloquium Abstract (Nov 4, 2015)

The NanoSat revolution: Observations from the front lines

CubeSats and NanoSats have created a revolution in the space industry. These miniature spacecraft are the choice for student satellites worldwide, are becoming a serious option for many missions being developed by traditional space organizations, from NASA and JPL to the Air Force and NSF and are the baseline for a growing number of start-up companies. However, 10 years ago, when the CubeSat standard was developed by a Stanford-Cal Poly team success was not guaranteed.

Read more about Jordi Puig-Suari Colloquium Abstract (Oct 21, 2015)

Dawn’s Exploration of Vesta and Ceres

The Dawn mission is characterizing two of only a few surviving intact protoplanets. The Dawn spacecraft, with its novel ion propulsion system, has completed its exploration of Vesta and is now in orbit around Ceres. The two massive asteroids could not be more different. Vesta (~500 km diameter) is a rocky body, with a large metallic core, an ultramafic mantle, and a basaltic crust.

Read more about Harry Y. McSween Colloquium Abstract (Oct 14, 2015)

Shining Light on the Dark History of the Early Solar System

With the discovery that planets surrounding stars are common place and the likelihood of discovering Earth size planets in the so-called habitable zone favorable; the consideration of the possibility of life else where in the galaxy becomes compelling. The term habitable zone generally refers to the radial distance a planet has with respect to its star, where surface water may be liquid. Whereas planet finding methods, e.g.

Read more about George Cody Colloquium Abstract (Oct 7, 2015)

Galaxies and their Gas at the Peak Epoch of Star Formation

Because faint, low mass galaxies are numerous at high redshifts, their impact on the Universe is expected to be significant. They may host a substantial fraction of the Universe's star formation, provide many of the energetic photons needed to reionize the hydrogen gas surrounding galaxies, and affect their surroundings via powerful, starburst-driven galactic outflows of gas. Because of their faintness, however, the properties of these galaxies are difficult to determine.

Read more about Dawn Erb Colloquium Abstract (Sept 30, 2015)

Results from the MAVEN mission to Mars

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft has been orbiting Mars since 21 September 2014 and collecting data in science mode since 16 November 2014. The science objectives of the MAVEN mission are to characterize the upper atmosphere and ionospheric structure and composition, the interactions of the sun and the solar wind with the planet, and the processes driving loss of gas from the atmosphere to space.

Read more about Bruce Jakosky Colloquium Abstract (Sept 23, 2015)

The Origin of the Moon from a MAD Earth

In the giant impact hypothesis for lunar origin, the last giant impact onto the proto-Earth generated a circumterrestrial disk that accreted to form the Moon. In the canonical version of the model, the impact also set the present-day angular momentum (AM) of the Earth-Moon system. However, the canonical model has failed to explain the near isotopic identicality between the Earth’s mantle and the Moon.

Read more about Sarah Stewart Colloquium Abstract (Sept 16, 2015)

The Solar Supercharge: Using Systems Biology to Reconstruct How the Invention of Photosynthesis Transformed Biochemistry and the Ancient Biosphere

The invention of photosynthesis is often cited as one of the keystone events in the evolution of life on Earth. Roughly 2.5 billion years ago, oxygenic photosynthesis—the type of photosynthesis most of us are familiar with—provided the first major pulse of oxygen into a microbial world that was essentially anaerobic and ill-equipped to cope with what was effectively poisonous gas.

Read more about Jason Raymond Colloquium Abstract (Sept 9, 2015)