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| All events are subject to date and time change without notice. | ||
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| Tue, 9 Feb 10 | LPL Colloquium: Tidally Interacting Planets and Stars: Fluid Dynamics and the Fate of Planets Dr. Gordon Ogilvie from DAMTP at the University of Cambridge is the scheduled speaker. Tidal interactions between a planet and its host star are important when the orbital separation is sufficiently small, and many such systems are being discovered by the transit method. Tidal dissipation in the planet generally leads to orbital circularization accompanied by heating of the planet, while dissipation in the star typically leads to the inward migration and eventual destruction of the planet. The spin-orbit alignment, measurable by the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect, is also modified. While the celestial mechanics can readily be studied using parametrized models, the fluid dynamics of tidal interactions is much richer than can be described using a constant tidal quality factor or lag time. I will discuss some of the mechanisms for tidal dissipation involving the excitation of low-frequency waves in rotating and/or stratified fluids and their dissipation through linear or nonlinear processes. While numerous uncertainties remain, the observational evidence from short-period extrasolar planets and from the satellites of giant planets in the solar system provide valuable constraints that will allow theories to be tested and refined. Kuiper Space Sciences Building: Room 308 | 3:30 pm |
| Thu, 11 Feb 10 | LPL Colloquium: The Ins and Outs of Martian Mini-Magnetospheres Dr. David Brain, Faculty candidate PTYS/LPL, from the University of California at Berkeley is the scheduled speaker. Measurements of magnetic fields and charged particles near Mars made over the past four decades have taught us about its plasma environment, upper atmosphere, near-surface radiation environment, subsurface, and deep interior. The upper atmosphere and plasma environment of Mars are of interest because they are the sites of energy exchange between the planet and its surroundings, dominated by the Sun and solar wind. For this reason they may have played a critical role in Martian climate evolution. A number of recent spacecraft observations demonstrate that the exchange of particles and energy between the solar wind and atmosphere is particularly dynamic at Mars because strong localized crustal magnetic fields form mini-magnetospheres that rotate with the planet, influencing the motion of charged particles. I will discuss two observed influences of crustal fields on particle motion near Mars and their implications: episodic escape of atmospheric particles via detached crustal fields and localized energy deposition characterized by ultraviolet aurora on the Martian night side. Kuiper Space Sciences Building: Room 308 | 3:30 pm |
| Tue, 16 Feb 10 | LPL Graduate Student Colloquium: Catherine Elder and Peng Sun are the scheduled speakers. Catherine will present "Central Pit Formation in Ganymede Craters via Melt Drainage" and Peng will present "Goldreich and Sridhar Type Magnetic Turbulence and Particle's Diffusion". Kuiper Space Sciences Building: Room 308 | 3:30 pm |
| Wed, 17 Feb 10 | LPL50 Anniversary Alumnus Lecture: Early days at the Lunar and Planetary Lab...and on Mars The Lunar and Planetary Laboratory Fifty years of Excellence in Research, Education, and Discovery: 1960-2010 Dr. William K. Hartmann, UA/LPL alumnus and Senior Research Scientist at Tucson's Planetary Science Institute, is the scheduled speaker. The title of his talk is "Early days at the Lunar and Planetary Lab...and on Mars." Bill will talk about the early days and working with Gerard Kuiper just after the establishiment of LPL. This period, in the 1960s, was before the Planetary Sciences Department had been invented, and back when graduate students actually trekked across the street to the Science Library in order to find important journal articles printed on paper! Bill will review the roots of UA planetary science: discovering the Orientale impact basin on the moon, tracking Soviet development of the theory of planetary accretion, analyzing the first closeup photos of lunar landscapes and craters on Mars, working with Gene Shoemaker and the newly-formed U.S.G.S. "astrogeology branch" in Flagstaff, and the developing crater-dating and the giant impact theory theory of lunar origin. Information about Dr. Hartmann is available here. Kuiper Space Sciences: Room 308 | 7:00 pm |
| Tue, 23 Feb 10 | LPL Colloquium: Dr. Jonathan Fortney of the University of California at Santa Cruz is the scheduled speaker. Kuiper Space Sciences Building: Room 308 | 3:30 pm |
| Wed, 24 Mar 10 | LPL50 Anniversary Alumnus Lecture: The Lunar and Planetary Laboratory Fifty years of Excellence in Research, Education, and Discovery: 1960-2010 Dr. Mark V. Sykes, UA/LPL alumnus and Director of Tucson's Planetary Science Institute, is the scheduled speaker. Information about Dr. Sykes is available here. Kuiper Space Sciences: Room 308 | 7:00 pm |
| Wed, 21 Apr 10 | LPL50 Anniversary Alumnis Lecture: Faith Vilas: The Lunar and Planetary Laboratory Fifty years of Excellence in Research, Education, and Discovery: 1960-2010 Dr. Faith Vilas, LPL alumna and Director of the Multiple Mirror Telescope Obervatory (MMT), is the scheduled speaker. Information about the MMT is available here. Kuiper Space Sciences : Room 308 | 7:00 pm |
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