Ices and Organics in the Inner Solar System Conference: Call for Abstracts

2nd Announcement and Call for Abstracts On June 12th and 13th, the UCLA Institute for Planets and Exoplanets (iPLEX) will host a two day interdisciplinary conference on the nature, distribution, origin and evolution of frozen volatiles and organics in the inner solar system....

SPINLab Fluid Dynamics Educational Film Project

By Jonathan Aurnou & John Cantwell   Spend a day at the ocean or just stop to watch the clouds: there’s ample evidence that the fluid systems around you—the oceans and the atmosphere—are in constant motion. These enormous systems are not only moving and constantly...

Rheasilvia basin generated from Dawn topographic data.

By Jennifer Scully The above image was generated from Dawn topographic data and is a tilted view of Vesta’s Rheasilvia impact basin, which is a ~500km depression that dominates the topography of Vesta’s southern hemisphere. The Dawn spacecraft arrived at the asteroid Vesta...

Cabeus crater, as viewed by the Diviner Lunar Radiometer.

By Michaela Shopland The Diviner Lunar Radiometer team based at UCLA, played an integral role in the LCROSS experiment – not only did observations from their instrument help in the selection of the impact site, but the data they gathered after impact helped to eventually...

Disrupted Asteroid P/2010 A2

By David Jewitt Caption: N = principal nucleus, a 120-meter diameter body.  AA and BB = cross arms of the “X” structure, though to consist of larger blocks released from the nucleus.  C = objects embedded in the “X” arms and detected on more than one...

THEMIS measures the Solar Wind Interaction with Earth’s Magnetic Field

By Christine Gabrielse Some planets have magnetic fields that act as invisible force fields against the solar wind and the sun’s radiation, called magnetospheres. Although their natural shape is more like a doughnut with the planet at the center, the solar wind is such a...

Titan, Dione and the ring shepherds Pandora and Pan.

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Phobos, moon of Mars, with large crater Stickney on the right

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50,000 yr old Meteor Impact Crater near Flagstaff, Arizona.

Meteor Crater (aka Barringer Crater) is about 1 km in diameter and located an hour’s drive east from Flagstaff, Arizona.  Formed 50,000 yrs ago by the impact of an iron-nickel asteroid perhaps 50 meters in diameter.  Although seen by Barringer as an iron mining prospect,...

Mercury’s cratered surface observed from MESSENGER.

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Comet C/2006 P1 McNaught showing dust fragmentation in the tail

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Ice Filled Crater on Mars

Artist’s view of Kepler 11, a planetary system with 6 confirmed exoplanets.

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Volcanic Plume on Io viewed against Jupiter

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Cracked ice on Europa caused by tidal flexing in Jupiter’s gravitational field

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