Planetary Research at BU
Our department has a number of associated research groups active in planetary science, primarily studying the upper atmospheres and ionospheres of planets and moons.
We use ground-based telescopes, including a dedicated facility at the McDonald Observatory in Texas, sub-orbital rocket experiments, space-based telescopes, including the Hubble Space Telescope, and spacecraft, including Mars Express and MAVEN, to explore these environments. We also develop computational models to test theories for how these environments behave.
Faculty with Related Research
| Research Interests:
planetary atmospheres, UV astrophysics, FUV instruments for remote observations |
Research Interests:
star–terrestrial planet interactions in our Solar System and beyond; magnetic reconnection, turbulence, wave–particle interactions, and collisionless shocks; physics-informed machine learning and AI for Science; laboratory astrophysics and high-intensity laser–plasma interactions |
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Wen Li
Associate Professor;
Director of Graduate Studies -
Carlos Martinis
Research Associate Professor
| Research Interests:
space plasma waves, Earth’s magnetospheric physics, solar-wind magnetosphere coupling, energetic particle precipitation, Jovian magnetosphere and aurora |
Research Interests:
ionospheric physics, space physics, thermosphere/ionosphere plasma irregularities |
| Research Interests:
space physics, planetary atmospheres, observations and models |
Research Interests:
modeling and observations of planetary atmospheres, with a focus on the upper atmospheres of the giant planets and on the coupling between atmospheres and the space environment |
| Research Interests:
atmospheres of Jupiter’s moons, comets, Mercury and our own Moon |
Research Interests:
the behaviour of the martian upper atmosphere and ionosphere, analysis of accelerometer data |
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