LPL’s Catalina Sky Survey is providing data to Planetary Resources, Inc. in an effort to improve detection of NEOs. Planetary Resources is a private company committed to utilization of resources in space. The president is Chris Lewicki, whose LPL connections stretch back to his days as an undergraduate working with Bill Boynton’s group, and their advisory board includes LPL alums Tom Jones and Mark Sykes.
In March, Senior Staff Scientist Steve Larson forwarded news that Catalina Sky Survey observer Rik Hill (Research Specialist, Senior) discovered the "crumbling" asteroid P/2013 R3. Hubble Space Telescope provided the likely the first known observation of an asteroid breaking up through spin-up by the YORP effect: Hubble witnesses an asteroid mysteriously disintegrating
Congratulations to Rik and the Catalina Sky Survey!
Molly Simon
is the recipient of the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award for Fall 2013. Molly earned the award for her work as a GTA for Dr. Steve Kortenkamp's PTYS/ASTR 206 course. Molly is a first-year graduate student; her advisor is Assistant Professor Ilaria Pascucci.
Congratulations, Margaret Landis! Margaret has been named the recipient of a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, which comes with three years of funding and tuition support.
The Art Of Planetary Science: An Exhibition – bringing together the art and science communities to engage the public.
by Jamie Molaro
Two LPL alumni, Marc Buie (1984) and John Keller (2006), are mustering citizen scientists in the western U.S. for project RECON: Research and Education Cooperative Occultation Network. The project has provided telescope equipment and training to 14 small communities north and south of Reno, Nevada, and hopes to eventually build a network stretching from Arizona to the Canadian border.
Chinese student Beary Xiao, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), forwards the good news that he successfully defended his doctoral dissertation on November 21, 2013. Beary will continue his career at the university in Wuhan as a postdoctoral researcher. Beary spent two years at LPL as a visiting researcher, working with Professor Emeritus Robert Strom.
