UArizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory

U of A's Mars camera gets close look at comet from interstellar space HiRISE, a U of A-led Mars imaging camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, found itself closer than any other imaging tool to comet 3I/ATLAS as it passed through the solar system.

LPLs HiRISE camera gets a close look at comet from interstellar space. news.arizona.edu/news/u-mars-...

Congratulations to the LPL's HiRISE team for successfully imaging interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS!

TONIGHT! Don't miss the last LPL Evening Lecture of 2025!

Space Drafts #111 is 7:30p this Wed. @ Zerai's Intl Bar (2725 E Broadway Blvd, Tucson, AZ)! We have UA grad students Anna Taylor, on how exoplanets lose their atmospheres, and Maria Mutz, on why neutron stars are so cool! If you can't make it in person we are also streaming at bit.ly/SpaceDrafts111.

One week from tonight don't miss Dr. Solange Duhamel speak at the last LPL Evening Lecture of the semester.

Join us for the last LPL Evening Lecture of 2025! Dr. Solange Duhamel is speaking on Wednesday, November 19 at 7:00pm at the Kuiper Space Sciences building in Tucson or you can register to join online. www.lpl.arizona.edu/calendar/eve...

TONIGHT! Don't miss this LPL Evening Lecture featuring a talk by Dr. Jack Holt!

Only one week left until the next LPL Evening Lecture! Make sure it's on your calendar! More info: www.lpl.arizona.edu/events/lpl-e...

Moon's biggest impact crater made a radioactive splash New analyses of the largest impact crater on the moon reveal unexpected insights into its tumultuous past. They also suggest that once astronauts return to the moon, they will have access to a veritab...

When astronauts land near the moon's south pole as part of NASA's Artemis program, they likely will find themselves in an unexpected treasure trove of clues that could help scientists better understand how Earth's only natural satellite came to be. news.arizona.edu/news/moons-b...

Make sure the next LPL Evening Lecture is on your calendar! On October 22, Dr. Jack Holt will present "Studying Earth's Glaciers to Unlock Martian Mysteries." We encourage in-person attendees to come early to see special exhibits! www.lpl.arizona.edu/events/lpl-e...

Kudos to LPL Assistant Professor DellaGiustina! 🎉 More information about this honor can be found here: aas.org/press/aas-na...

TONIGHT! Stop by to listen to Dr. Christopher Hamilton's evening lecture. Guests can come early to see some special exhibits as well!

There's only one week until the first 2025 LPL Evening Lecture with Dr. Christopher Hamilton! We encourage in-person attendees to come early to see special exhibits!

The application to join the LPL Planetary Sciences PhD program is now open! Visit lpl.arizona.edu/admissions for more information.

Asteroid Bennu is a time capsule of materials bearing witness to its origin and transformation over billions of years Three new papers reveal yet more secrets from samples collected by the University of Arizona-led OSIRIS-REx mission from asteroid Bennu.

Asteroid Bennu – the target of NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission, led by LPL – is a mixture of materials from throughout, and beyond, our solar system. Over billions of years, its uniquely varied contents have been transformed by water and the space environment. news.arizona.edu/news/asteroi...

Dr. Hamilton is the first in our "Space on Earth" LPL Evening Lectures for Fall 2025! Come listen to Dr. Hamilton speak on "Mars on Earth: Testing Tomorrow's Mars Missions in Iceland." More information can be found here: www.lpl.arizona.edu/calendar/eve...

Please join us in congratulating Samantha Moruzzi, who today successfully defended her Ph.D. Dissertation, Geophysical Evolution of Sputnik Basin on Pluto.

Congratulations, Samantha!

📸: Samantha is pictured with her advisor, Dr. Jeff Andrews-Hanna.

Kudos to our LPL alums! 🎉

It's time to mark your calendars! The 2025 LPL Evening Lecture Series features "Space on Earth." You can attend any lecture in-person or virtually. We hope to see you there! lpl.arizona.edu/calendar/eve...

An emissary from interstellar space Discovered only a week ago, comet 3I/ATLAS is only the third known visitor from outside the solar system. U of A astronomer Carson Fuls explains what makes the comet special – and why we can only gues...

A recently discovered extraterrestrial "visitor" is hurtling toward the inner solar system at 130,000 miles per hour and has quickly captured the attention of astronomers and space enthusiasts around the world, including here at LPL. news.arizona.edu/news/emissar...

Join LPL Prof. Pierre Haenecour at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum during Cool Summer Nights on July 19! More details can be found here: www.desertmuseum.org/visit/events...

Please join us in congratulating Samuel Myers, who today successfully defended his Ph.D. Dissertation, Understanding the Limits of Simple Thermal Models for Characterizing Near-Earth Asteroids.

Congratulations, Sam!

📸: Sam is pictured with his Ph.D. advisor, Dr. Ellen Howell

'Ghost spacecraft': NASA budget cuts threaten UA's OSIRIS & other missions The proposed 2026 NASA budget calls for defunding seven University of Arizona-led space missions even though some, including the well-known OSIRIS project, have already been launched into operation.

Article on the potential impact to LPL planetary missions from the proposed NASA budget. www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report...

The University of Arizona ranked #4 in space sciences globally according to the latest report from US News and World report! This ranking includes both LPL and @stewardobservatory.bsky.social. Read more about this honor here: www.usnews.com/education/be...

Revealing the lives of planet-forming disks New observations of 30 planet-forming disks – the birthplaces of planets around stars – reveal in greater detail than ever how gas and dust behave over time and shape the evolution of exoplanet system...

An international team of astronomers including researchers from LPL has unveiled groundbreaking findings about the disks of gas and dust surrounding nearby young stars, using the powerful Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, or ALMA. news.arizona.edu/news/reveali...

Black in (exo)planetary science Nature Astronomy - As part of Black Space Week 2025, six (exo)planetary scientists share information about their scientific interests, research projects and personal motivations for working in...

Take a look at the contribution to the commentary in Nature Astronomy by LPL graduate student Kayla Smith! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Congrats to LPL graduate student Anna Taylor! 🎉

Kudos to LPL graduate student Maizey Benner! 🥳

Please join us in congratulating Galen Bergsten, who today successfully defended their Ph.D. Dissertation, Modeling Exoplanet Demographics Across Detection Methods.

Congratulations, Galen!

📸: Galen is pictured with their Ph.D. advisor, Dr. Ilaria Pascucci.

A new study led by LPL's Dr. Sam Crossley reveals a surprising new way planetary cores formed. news.arizona.edu/news/percola...