Whether by telescope or spacecraft, when we look at the surfaces of other planets we do so through remote sensing instruments.  There is a wide variety of such instruments from Synthetic Aperture Radars to visible wavelength cameras and an even wider range of geologic features to examine from sand dunes to lava flows.  On Earth, remote sensing is further complicated by vegetation and features constructed by humans.  However, there is one great advantage to remote sensing data analysis on the Earth – you can actually visit the site to test your conclusions…

Despite our tendency to crisscross the whole southwestern U.S. on these trips, there is an incredibly interesting geologic story sitting on our doorstep here in the Tucson area.  There has been growing interest among the fieldtrip group in understanding more about the processes that have fashioned the local landscape around Tucson and that was finally satisfied this semester.

On May 1, NASA announced that the OSIRIS-REx target asteroid 1999 RQ36 was renamed Bennu. The name Bennu was selected from over 8,000 entries submitted to the Name that Asteroid! contest. Bennu was an important avian deity in ancient Egypt and one of the symbols of the god Osiris. Egyptians usually depicted Bennu as a gray heron.

Early this year, the International Astronomical Union announced the naming of asteroids after two women with strong ties to LPL.

The LPL Board of Advisors, the external group chartered with helping LPL and its director improve interactions with the world beyond campus and NASA, has been reformulated after a several year absence. The group will have its initial meeting in June to set goals and begin work. The Board members range from LPL alumni to Tucson community leaders who have not been part of the LPL family before. You’ll be hearing more from the Board as time progresses. Board members are:

As usual, we’ve got a variety of news from the people around the lab, and links to stories talking about some of the great science the lab has been doing. But I wanted to highlight three things