{"id":302,"date":"2012-05-29T16:13:03","date_gmt":"2012-05-29T16:13:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/10.171.92.38\/~physics\/?page_id=302"},"modified":"2025-11-06T12:40:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T17:40:10","slug":"planetary-sciences","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/physics\/research\/research-areas\/planetary-sciences\/","title":{"rendered":"Planetary Sciences"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UCF Planetary Sciences Group<\/a> uses spacecraft data, images from the world’s most powerful telescopes, meteorites and moon rocks, and supercomputer calculations to investigate fundamental questions like these:<\/p>\n

How did our solar system form? What do the surfaces of other worlds tell us about their history? What happens when a comet hits a planet? What’s going on in the atmospheres of extrasolar planets? Are there any other planetary systems like ours? Are we alone?<\/p>\n

The Planetary Sciences Group works closely with the Florida Space Institute<\/a> to grow space research at UCF and throughout Florida.<\/p>\n

The department offers a PhD track in Planetary Sciences<\/a>, a BS specialization and minor in Astronomy, classes, research and employment opportunities at all levels, workshops, Robinson Observatory<\/a>, astronomical software, planetary seminars, and much more.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Planetary Sciences Faculty<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dr. Daniel Britt<\/a><\/strong>
\nResearch<\/a>:\u00a0meteorites, small bodies, Mars<\/p>\n

Dr. Humberto Campins<\/a><\/strong>
\nResearch<\/a>: asteroids and comets<\/p>\n

Dr. Joshua Colwell<\/a><\/strong>
\nResearch:<\/a> Saturn’s rings and microgravity experiments<\/p>\n

Dr. Adrienne Dove\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>
\nResearch<\/a>: dusty surface processes, microgravity research<\/p>\n

Dr. Theodora Karalidi<\/strong><\/a>
\nResearch<\/a>: exoplanetary and brown dwarf atmospheres, mapping exoatmospheres and spectropolarimetry<\/p>\n

Dr. Yanga Fernandez<\/a><\/strong>
\nResearch<\/a>: asteroids and comets<\/p>\n

Dr. Joseph Harrington<\/a><\/strong>
\nResearch<\/a>: measuring exoplanets<\/p>\n

Dr. Richard Jerousek<\/a><\/strong>
\nResearch<\/a>: Planetary Rings & Solar System Origin <\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Kerri Donaldson\u00a0Hanna<\/a><\/strong>
\nResearch<\/a>: Moon, Asteroids, Mercury, Phobos, laboratory Spectroscopy, Thermal Infrared Spectroscopy, Planetary Space Instrumentation<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Lauren McKeown<\/strong><\/a>
\nResearch<\/a>: Icy planetary surface processes, Mars, Europa, small bodies, analog laboratory experiments, icy Earth analog geomorphology, icy simulant development, remote sensing visible image analysis and mapping<\/p>\n

Dr. Ryan Ogliore<\/strong><\/a>
\nResearch<\/a>: Cosmochemistry, Io<\/p>\n

Dr. Ramses Ramirez<\/strong><\/a>
\nResearch: exoplanetary and solar system terrestrial planet atmospheres, planetary habitability, astrobiology, early Mars climate, the habitable zone, and the human settlement of space.<\/p>\n

Dr. Alyssa Sokol<\/strong><\/a>
\nResearch<\/a>:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Research Scientists<\/h2>\n

Dr. E. Todd Bradley<\/a><\/strong>
\nResearch<\/a>: Mercury exosphere, Saturn’s rings composition<\/p>\n

Dr. Julie Brissett<\/strong><\/a>
\nResearch<\/a>:\u00a0Planet formation, dust accretion processes, microgravity experiments<\/p>\n

Dr. Philip Metzger<\/strong><\/a>
\nResearch<\/a>: mechanics and characterization of planetary regolith<\/p>\n

Dr. Noem\u00ed Pinilla-Alonso\u00a0<\/a>
\n<\/strong>Research<\/a>: observation and modeling of comets, asteroids and KBOs<\/p>\n

Dr. Gal Sari<\/strong><\/a>
\nResearch<\/a>: thermal and collisional evolution of comets, asteroids and planets<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UCF Planetary Sciences Group uses spacecraft data, images from the world’s most powerful telescopes, meteorites and moon rocks, and supercomputer calculations to investigate fundamental questions like these: How did our solar system form? What do the surfaces of other worlds tell us about their history? What happens when a comet hits a planet? What’s […]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":312,"menu_order":19,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-302","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nPlanetary Sciences - Physics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/physics\/research\/research-areas\/planetary-sciences\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Planetary Sciences - Physics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The UCF Planetary Sciences Group uses spacecraft data, images from the world’s most powerful telescopes, meteorites and moon rocks, and supercomputer calculations to investigate fundamental questions like these: How did our solar system form? 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