Yavapai County Free Library District: Star Talks – How Exotic Materials Enable Exotic Geology in the Outer Solar System

In different planetary settings, nature has distinct materials to work with. These lead to wildly divergent geological processes across the solar system. Laboratory studies of the materials can shed light on how the mysterious landscapes that have been explored by NASA’s robotic spacecraft came to be. Dr. Will Grundy is a planetary scientist at Lowell Observatory and a co-investigator on NASA’s New Horizons and Lucy missions. He studies icy, outer Solar System objects using a variety of experimental techniques, including space- and ground-based imaging and spectroscopy, as well as laboratory studies of low temperature materials. Star Talks are held in partnership with ​Prescott Astronomy Club and presented with funding from Friends of the Prescott Public Library.