The Centre for Planetary Sciences at UCL/Birkbeck

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Centre for Planetary Sciences

• Research Image Competition Winner 2012: Breakdown of methane-bearing ice crystals may drive explosive cryovolcanism on Titan, as shown in this artist's impression. Credit: Dr. A. D. Fortes
  
• 3D perspective view of a crater on Mars with extensive gully features. Made with HiRISE stereo images. Credit: Dr. P. Grindrod
  
• A green endolithic layer of photosynthesising cyanobacteria and/or algae a few mm below the surface of a carbonate crust deposited on limestone rocks in the Brecon Beacons, Wales. Relatively sheltered endolithic habitats like this could have provided habitable environments on early Mars. Credit: Dr. I. Crawford
  
• Artist view of the Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory (EChO). Credit: H. Jones/Dr. G. Tinetti
  
• Astrobiologist at work: Dr Claire Cousins works in a mountain hut near the summit of Kverkfjoll volcano, Iceland, mapping a hydrothermal environment being studied as a possible analogue environment for early Mars. Credit: Dr. I. Crawford; Expedition funded by the Leverhulme Trust.
  
• False colour element maps and backscattered electron (BSE) images of three 1mm basalt grains from the lunar soil sample 12023,155. These form part of a selection of samples from the Apollo 12 site currently being investigated for exotic textures and chemistries. Credit: Louise Alexander
  
• Icelandic Glaciological Society hut at the summit of Kverkfjoll, a subglacial volcanic system. This hut was home for 8 days whilst fieldwork was conducted at the hydrothermal fields nearby. Credit: Dr. C. Cousins
  
• Icy oceans in the Jovian and Uranian systems. Credit: Dr. C. S. Arridge
  
• Micro-terracing in cold spring carbonate deposits in Wales. Credit: Jennifer Harris
  
• Misty view of a geothermal meltwater lake at Kverkfjoll volcano, which lies beneath Vatnajokull glacier. Patches of fumaroles seen in the foreground produce little islands of heat that melt away the ice. Credit: Dr. C. Cousins
  
• Plasma production in the saturnian magnetosphere. Credit: Dr. C. S. Arridge
  
• Probable ice flow features on Mars. Two HiRISE stereo topography models (in colour) overlain on one CTX stereo topography model. Credit: Dr. P. Grindrod
  
• Carbonate micro-terraces deposited by alkaline waters flowing over limestone rocks at a site in the Brecon Beacons, Wales. Note how the terraces provide micro habitats for photosynthesising cyanobacteria and/or algae. Such environments are possible analogues for habitable environmemts on early Mars. Credit: Dr. I. Crawford
  
• Saturn's icy moon Enceladus interacting with Saturn's magnetosphere. Credit: Dr. C. S. Arridge
  
• South Lunar Polar dots. The footprints of the laser altimeter on the LRO spacecraft crossing the South Pole of the Moon. The image only covers 0.1 degree of latitude and contains ~500k data points. Credit: Dr. P. Grindrod
  
• Spectrum of exoplanet XO1b recorded with the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: Dr. G. Tinetti
  
• Steaming hydrothermal area next to large melt water lake at the summit of Kverkfjoll volcano, Iceland. This area, where volcanic heat meets glacial ice, is being studied as a possible analogue environment for early Mars. Credit: Dr. I. Crawford; Expedition funded by the Leverhulme Trust.
  
• The 2011 Grimsvotn eruption in Iceland deposited ash across the surface of Vatnajokull glacier. Solar heating of the dark-coloured ash causes uneven melting of the glacier surface as the summer progresses, making it difficult to traverse. Credit: Dr. C. Cousins
  
• The Pathfinder landing site, (top) as seen from the surface by the imaging camera, and (bottom) as simulated using a HiRISE stereo topography model. Credit: Dr. P. Grindrod
  
• The Uranian system. Credit: Dr. C. S. Arridge
  
• UV fluorescence image of red staining on carbonate spring deposit in Wales. Credit: Jennifer Harris
  
• View of Kverkfjoll looking north. Pillars of steam and gas rise up from fumaroles, and form a contrast to the cold icy surface. The subglacially-erupted volcano Herdubreid can be seen in the distance, now exposed since the last ice age. Credit: Dr. C. Cousins
  
• Colour element maps of Apollo 12 lunar soil samples. Credit: Josh Snape
  
• Anomalous ureilite LAR 04315 in crossed polarised light. Credit: Aidan Ross
  
• Permafrost terrain near Ny Alesund, Svalbard. Credit: Dr. C. Cousins
  
• False colour composite image of the Moon, showing the locations of the landing sites from which rock samples have been returned to earth. Credit: Shoshana Weider
  
• Microbial vista - geothermally heated hot spring pools like these at Geysir, Iceland are home to numerous bacterial and archaea, seen here forming large, interconnected microbial mats across the silica surface. Credit: Dr. C. Cousins
  
• Bacterial and fungal growth from a soil sample collected from Lake Magadi in Kenya, an extremely alkaline soda lake. Credit: Lottie Davis
  
• A hydrothermal pond surrounded by steam and sulphurous deposits near the summit of the Kverkfjöll volcano, Iceland. The image was taken during a field excursion to identify possible analogues of martian environments on Earth. Credit: Dr. I. Crawford
  
• Planetary X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy – laboratory analogue experiments: inside the vacuum chamber. Credit: Shoshana Weider
  
• Samples of lunar soils (sample 12023) collected by the Apollo 12 astronauts in 1969, and allocated by NASA to CPS research staff and students for a study of the chemical and mineralogical diversity of lunar lava flows. Credit: Dr. I. Crawford
  
• The ExoMars PanCam being tested at the summit of Sigurdfjellet volcano in Svalbard in 2010. Credit: Dr. C. Cousins
  
• The ExoMars PanCam being tested at Troll Springs in Svalbard in 2009. Credit: Dr. C. Cousins
  
• Planetary Science PhD student surrounded by ice, steam and sulphurous gasses near the summit of the Kverkfjöll volcano, Iceland. Credit: Dr. I. Crawford
  
• Dr Katherine Joy stands next to the Genesis Rock in the Lunar Receiving Laboratory at the Johnson Space Centre, Houston. This rock, collected by the crew of Apollo 15 in 1971, is over 4 billion years old and is derived from the original crust of the Moon. Credit: Dr. I. Crawford
  
• An impression of a nitrogen gas geyser jetting over the pinkish hydrocarbon-rich icy landscape of Neptune’s moon Triton. Credit: Dr. A. D. Fortes
  
• 3D perspective view of a small, possible fluvial channel cutting through old cratered terrain on Mars. Credit: Dr. P. Grindrod
  
• A cutaway model of the interior of Saturn’s giant satellite Titan. Credit: Dr. A. D. Fortes
  
• Apollo 15 sample 15415 (the “Genesis Rock”) in the Lunar Sample Laboratory at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The rock is thought to be representative of the ancient lunar crust. Credit: Josh Snape
  
• A frosty and misty view of the satellite dish at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, photographed by a weary experimentalist rising early to check the progress of a measurement on the ISIS neutron source. Credit: Dr. A. D. Fortes
  
• An impression of the large polar lakes found near the north pole of Saturn’s giant moon Titan. Credit: Dr. A. D. Fortes
  
• Awestruck beneath an overbearing pillar of steam from a geyser. At dawn, combined with the high altitude of 14,000 ft, the air temperature was a numbing –17°C. Credit: Dr. L. Dartnell
  
• On my last research trip to NASA I stopped off in Florida to catch a launch! Credit: Aidan Ross
  
• 3D perspective view of a sedimentary basin at the bottom of a trough on Mars, which contains abundant hydrated minerals. Credit: Dr. P. Grindrod
  
• Stereo scanning EM anaglyph image of radiation resistant D. radiodurans cells. Credit: Dr. L. Dartnell
  
• Topography of the Valles Marineris canyon system on Mars, and some associated outflow channels, as revealed by the Mars Orbiting Laser Altimeter. Credit: Dr. P. Grindrod
  
• The Milky Way above Halema'uma'u crater, Kilauea, Hawai'i, during a chilly morning in March 2010. Credit: Dr. G. Jones
  
• Pinhole (beer can) camera view of the path the Sun made across the London sky during 133 days. Gaps in the solar path are the result of clouds obscuring the Sun. Credit: Dr. P. Grindrod
  

The CPS is a centre of excellence for research in planetary sciences, based on a collaboration between three UCL departments - Physics and Astronomy, Earth Sciences, and Space and Climate Physics - and the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Birkbeck. It forms part of the UCL Institute of Origins, which promotes world-leading research at UCL in topics related to the Origins and Evolution of the Universe. Read more...