\nNAU\u2019s Astronomy Ph.D. program to fill niche\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\nNAU students benefit from the area’s clear dark skies and by learning on numerous world-class telescopes including the Discovery Channel Telescope, which he describes as the best-designed telescope available.<\/p>\n Unlike some Ph.D. programs, which support space missions, NAU doctoral students will spend\u00a0time using telescopes to study objects and dwarf planets, including Eris and Makemake.<\/p>\n University administrators are in the process of identifying key faculty members who can join the university for the program’s debut in fall of 2016.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t get to see a planet for the first time very often,\u201d said Stephen Tegler<\/strong>, professor and chair of the Physics and Astronomy Department. Tegler also oversees NAU\u2019s ice lab, where ice samples are grown, analyzed and added to the expanding library of data.<\/p>\n \u201cWe grow lots of different kinds of ices with different temperatures, mixtures and at different phases. The fingerprint patterns of the samples ultimately will be used to match up images from the New Horizons spacecraft,\u201d Tegler said.<\/p>\n Scientists know Pluto\u2019s surface is made up of nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide but they want to learn more about how the materials behave at 390 degrees below zero.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re making samples in the NAU lab where we can study their properties, probing them with a variety of analytical instruments,\u201d said Will Grundy, a New Horizons co-investigator and head\u00a0of the mission\u2019s surface composition science team.<\/p>\n “Our goal is to understand how the alien landscapes that will soon be revealed by New Horizons were created via the physical and chemical interactions of these exotic ices,”\u00a0said Grundy, a Lowell Observatory astronomer and collaborator on NAU’s ice lab.<\/p>\n Professors Randy Dillingham <\/strong>and David Trilling<\/strong> are co-investigators in the ice lab, which was funded by NASA for four years.<\/p>\n The New Horizons spacecraft\u2019s spectrometer uses light to provide information about a planet\u2019s physical and chemical composition. Because every atom and molecule has a unique imprint, Tegler compared spectroscopy to fingerprinting, with NAU\u2019s ice lab providing the database of suspects.<\/p>\n The upcoming visual exploration of Pluto will fill in knowledge gaps, possibly revealing craters or ice volcanoes on the dwarf planet.\u00a0That information will require interpretation and raise new questions.<\/p>\n “When the data comes back, you will answer one question and the information will inspire many more questions, things for us to follow up on here on Earth,\u201d Tegler said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" |
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