The Sun and the Solar System Commons^™

Constraining The Impact Threat From Small Bodies In Near Earth And Cislunar Space, Skylar G. Butler, Jarrett Dieterle, Henry Sanders, Aiden Kelleher

Student Research Symposium (SRS)

Understanding and mitigating the impact threat posed by small bodies in near-Earth and cislunar space is vital for planetary defense, spacecraft safety, and sustainable space operations. This research integrates dynamical evolution modeling, synthetic observations, and reprocessed infrared data to assess the origins and potential hazards of debris from young asteroid families. By modeling the trajectories and orbital evolution of fragments from the Datura, Emilkowalski, 1992 YC2, Lucascavin (Nesvorný & Vokrouhlický, 2006), and Veritas (Nesvorný et al., 2003) families, we constrain how these sources contribute to near-Earth debris populations. Reprocessing Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) data with Fourier-filtering techniques reveals fine-structure variations …

Solar Wind–Magnetosphere Coupling During The September 2025 Cme: Multi-Spacecraft Analysis Using Mms And Omni Data, Skylar G. Butler, Margret Stanley

Student Research Symposium (SRS)

A sequence of two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) impacted Earth in early September 2025, producing consecutive geomagnetic disturbances. The first CME, launched on 31 August 2025 and observed as a halo in SOHO/LASCO imagery, reached Earth on 1 September (~20:45 UTC), generating a clear interplanetary shock. OMNI 1-min solar-wind data show a sudden rise in |B| from ≈ 5 nT to > 25 nT, proton density and velocity increases (≈ 350 → 600 km s⁻¹), and a southward IMF Bz interval that drove enhanced coupling. The Kyoto Dst index recorded a sudden storm commencement followed by a minimum of −75 nT …

Modeling The Secondary Catastrophic Disruption Of The Veritas Family, Jarrett Dieterle, Skylar G. Butler, Aiden Kelleher

Student Research Symposium (SRS)

The Veritas asteroid family, located in the outer main belt, is believed to have formed from the catastrophic breakup of a parent body approximately 8.3 million years ago (e.g., Nesvorný et al., 2003). Larger fragments remained in the main belt, while smaller particles evolved inward under radiation forces, forming a toroidal dust structure observable in infrared data as paired bands. Previous studies (e.g., Dermott et al., 2001) have shown that these bands can be linked to their parent families and modeled from their initial disruptions. We propose that the 10° dust bands associated with Veritas may record evidence of a …

Building The Erau Solar Telescope: Advancing Heliophysics Research And Education Through Optical Innovation, Erin Abraham, Sarah Hoover, Skylar G. Butler, Margret Stanley, Gwynlyn Hannah

Student Research Symposium (SRS)

The new Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) Solar Telescope represents a campus-wide collaboration to design and install a high-resolution solar observatory. The ERAU solar telescope, aiming for first light by Summer 2026, will integrate research-grade instrumentation, student training opportunities, and expand public engagement with the ERAU observatory. The telescope is housed within a 2.3-meter refurbished dome structure whose electrical and structural systems are being upgraded to support automated dome rotation and environmental stabilization. The optical design features a multi-element lens and mirror assembly optimized for a 1° field of view. The optical assembly includes a downport centered in the dome that …

Characterizing The Solar Sources Of Periodic Mesoscale Solar Wind Structures Responsible For Radiation Belt Particle Loss: Results And Implications For Space Weather Forecasting, Grace Gratton

Student Research Symposium (SRS)

It is now well-established that the ambient solar wind is dynamic and highly structured at mesoscales – scales larger than kinetic, but smaller than CMEs/SIRs. These structures are often created at the Sun and survive to 1 AU, where they form the ground-state of space weather as they continually buffet Earth's magnetosphere, the moon, and Mars. Two primary ways that mesoscale structures pose significant risks to spacecraft and astronauts are through driving radiation belt depletion, and amplifying the hazards of CMEs and SIRs through upstream solar wind preconditioning. Characterizing the solar origins and solar wind properties of geoeffective mesoscale structures …

The Link Fantastic: Detecting And Linking Simulated, Nongravitationally-Accelerating Objects With The Rubin Observatory Pipeline, Ellie White

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) is poised to revolutionize our understanding of the Solar System. After only a few months of regular operations, Rubin has already discovered over 11,000 new Solar System bodies, and is projected to discover millions more. With discoveries pouring in, and with the development of moving object detection pipelines for routine observing, one key question is: how effectively can Rubin detect and identify objects with anomalous trajectories? The answer is of interest not only for natural bodies in our Solar System, but also in the search for technosignatures, which could be identified …

Preliminary Observations From The Relativistic Electron Atmospheric Loss (Real) Satellite Mission, Evzen Selvon, Robyn Millan

Wetterhahn Science Symposium Posters

The Relativistic Electron Atmospheric Loss (REAL) spacecraft (launched in July 2025) is a 3U cubesat designed to measure the precise energies (1 keV – 2MeV) and pitch angles of electrons entering the Earth’s ionosphere. The mission involves Dartmouth, BU, JHUAPL, MSU, and NASA. REAL carries three particle sensors measuring low, medium, and high energies. This work is focused on the ElectroStatic Analyzer (ESA) instrument, designed to measure lower energy electrons (1-40 keV) in the directions parallel and perpendicular to the Earth’s magnetic field. This research aims to identify notable events observed by the REAL spacecraft for future analysis.

A Study On The Great Comet Of 2024: C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–Atlas) Via Radio Interferometry, Jesse Bier, Nathan X. Roth

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Our solar system is approximately 4.5 billion years old. Comets are remnants of its formation, serving as time capsules to give us an understanding of its natal heritage. Revealing our own solar system’s history allows us to gain insights into other young stellar systems and the potential for life elsewhere. C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) was a comet from the Oort cloud on its first and possibly only journey to the inner solar system. The comet grew in brightness until it was brighter than Venus on October 9^th, 2024, making it temporarily brighter than Venus and one of the brightest …

The Odds Don’T Lie: Mathematical Reasoning And Societal Ignorance In Don’T Look Up, Nysa Vedwan, Shane Carey

LASER Journal

In Adam McKay’s 2021 satirical sci-fi movie Don’t Look Up, two astronomers discover a comet heading directly toward Earth. Despite overwhelming evidence and near-certainty of global extinction, their warnings are ignored and ridiculed. This paper discusses the mathematical and scientific foundations of the movie’s social and political reception, and specifically focuses on orbital prediction and probabilistic modeling as they relate to public understanding of risk. This paper shows how data is often undermined by political and social dynamics, by connecting the fictional events of the movie with real-world crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate emergency. In Don’t Look …

Determining The Light Curve And 3d Shape Of Asteroid Eunomia And Egeria Using Relative Photometry, Skylar G. Butler, Jackson Ladd Sackrider

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

Asteroids are relics of our solar system’s early formation, preserving valuable information about planetary evolution. Understanding their rotational properties and surface features provides deeper insights into the dynamical and thermophysical processes that shape their evolution. This study aims to conduct photometric observations of two main-belt asteroids, Egeria and Eunomia, using the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University 1-meter telescope. Observations will be conducted in the red band on February 28 and March 14, 2025, over five-hour sessions, capturing full rotational light curves for each asteroid. These data will be analyzed using MPO Canopus to generate 3D surface models through photometric inversion techniques. The …

Geol 64: Planetary Geology - Syllabus, Dara Laczniak

Open Educational Resources

This Open Educational Resources (OER) syllabus is for an introductory planetary geology course that utilizes results from space missions to expose students to the surface features, composition, geological activity, and probable history of the planets, moons, asteroids, and comets of the solar system. It also places space exploration into the context of larger societal issues such as global warming and natural resource availability and addresses topics such as the ethics of space exploration and hazards of space travel. This OER syllabus aims to foster student-centered learning, critical thinking, data analysis and communication skills, and creativity. Assigned readings are compiled into …

Orbital Evolution Of The Datura Asteroid Family, Skylar G. Butler

Beyond: Undergraduate Research Journal

To research the Datura Family of asteroids, we used an orbital evolution code to track the orbital decay of asteroid fragments released in an asteroid disruption. Different particle sizes of 10, 100, 500, 750, and 100 micrometers were tracked including the semi-major axis, eccentricity, and inclination in order to observe how certain particle sizes’ orbital elements evolve. Using a young asteroid family like the Datura family gives more insight into the parent asteroid structure and formation because the time is closer to before the asteroid’s breakup. We use these models to constrain the parameters of the dust by comparing the …

12co Ro-Vibrational Spectroscopy Of Protoplanetary Disks: Inferring Planet-Disk Interactions, Janus Kozdon

All Dissertations

Observing and studying planets around young stars during their initial formation stages is essential for understanding the physics of their formation. Protoplanetary disks are the host sites of planets, and they exhibit substructures that hint towards the planets' presence, but the planet itself has rarely been detected. Analysis of the substructures in protoplanetary disks, especially towards the inner regions where most planets seem to lie, will provide information that can be used to refine theories about planet-disk interactions and, ultimately, planet formation. To probe the high-velocity inner regions, this study utilizes high-resolution spectroscopy, which has increased sensitivity with increasing velocities. …

Exploring The Enstatite Chondrites: Modal Abundances, Metamorphic History, And Volatile Challenges, Mabel Gray

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis investigates the formation conditions, thermal histories, and volatile inventories of enstatite chondrites (ECs). A diverse set of ECs is analyzed to capture the broad variability within this meteorite class. Chapter 1 presents a comparative analysis of mineral abundances using automated point counting, X-ray diffraction analysis, and XMapTools-based phase mapping. The results reveal significant variations in silicate and sulfide abundances across EC groups, challenging the conventional binary classification and suggesting distinct formation conditions. Chapter 2 explores the thermal histories of two highly equilibrated EH chondrites, proposing a novel formation mechanism on the parent asteroid: contact metamorphism driven by an …

Streaming Instabilities In Class 0/I Disks, Shirin Gul Zaidi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

While it is clear that planets form in protoplanetary disks, fragmentation and the radial drift of pebbles inhibit the growth of grains to planetesimals. To overcome these barriers, effective localized dust clumping on a short enough time scale is required. One promising solution to this problem is the streaming instability. Streaming instability is only triggered with a large enough dust-to-gas ratio and grain size. Though it is unknown when and where those conditions are met in protoplanetary disks, recent studies have indicated that planetary cores likely require early formation to match detected exoplanet system masses, so that we need to …

Global Ionospheric F Region Parameters From Gnss-Pod Limb Measurements: Evaluations And Comparisons With Two Empirical Models - Iri-2020 And Nequick-2, Nimalan Swarnalingam, Dong L. Wu, Dieter Bilitza, Daniel J. Emmons, Cornelius Csar Jude H. Salinas, Artem Smirnov, Yenca Migoya-Oru

Faculty Publications

An optimal estimation (OE) technique has recently been developed for F region electron density (Ne) using Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) limb sounding on low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites (COSMIC-2, Spire, and FengYun-3). This method provides unprecedented spatiotemporal sampling for global monthly Ne climatology within 100–500 km in 2 hr intervals. The global dataset, collected during mid to moderately high solar activity, is compared with leading models: IRI-2020 and NeQuick-2. Diurnal variations in summer, winter, and equinoctial months are examined for the F2-layer peak, as well as the topside and bottomside of the F region. The observed and modeled NmF2 …

Dayside North-South Aligned Auroral Arcs, Taiel Ramirez, Gerard J. Fasel, Wyatt Farrar, Mason Woolfolk, Andrea Black, Cullen Diggs, Clay Shin, Jordan Chiu, Sun-Hee Lee, John Mann, Fred Sigernes, Dag A. Lorentzen

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Observations of North-South auroral arcs (or Sun-aligned) have been recorded for many years. Discrete North-South auroral arcs are located between 73-84° MLAT and are usually associated moderate auroral activity, low solar wind dynamic pressure, and a small IMF z-component. Some observations reported quasi-periodic poleward motions of North-South aligned dayside auroral arcs. This current statistical study contains nine years of All-Sky Camera images obtained from the Boreal Aurora Camera Constellation (BACC) from the Kjell Henriksen Observatory (KHO) in Longyearbyen, Svalbard (GEO: 78.148 N, 16.043 E; AACGM: 75.24 N, 111.21 E). The characteristics of discrete North-South dayside auroral arcs, including spatial and …

Implications Of Magnetic Evolution On Coronal Loop Thermal Variation Prior To Solar Flares, Kara L. Kniezewski

Theses and Dissertations

Solar flares are intense bursts of electromagnetic radiation, which occur due to a rapid destabilization and reconnection of the magnetic field. While flares are a magnetic phenomena, very little attention has been paid to thermal conditions in the corona prior to flare onset. This study serves as a follow-on to Kniezewski et al., 2024, where the EUV emission from coronal loops was observed to vary substantially and without any coherence between channels before 53 off-limb flares. These variations suggest multiple mechanisms within the coronal magnetic field are responsible for heating fluctuations. Here, the 3D magnetic field is modeled using a …

Stars, Statutes, And Sharing: Designing Global Ip Frameworks For Space-Based Discoveries, Ed Koellner

Marquette Intellectual Property & Innovation Law Review

As humanity stretches farther into space physically, commercially, and intellectually, contemporary legal frameworks are beginning to creak under the pressure. Intellectual property laws seem to be playing catch-up. Those laws were written for a world bound by borders and gravity, not for orbital labs, the Earth’s Moon, or AI-generated inventions drifting above the Earth.

This article takes a closer look at the increasingly complex intersection of space law, intellectual property, and artificial intelligence. This domain is no longer reserved for state-led missions or high-level treaties. Now and in the near future, a university lab or a private startup might be …

When Emotions Flare: Solar Rhythms, Emotions And Cycles Of Political Revolution, Andreas Hernandez, Carolina Zilli Vieira, Alexandra Smith, Rebecca Olson

Geography and Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Revolutions are among the most transformative events in human history. Analyzing 395 revolutionary episodes from 1900 to 2014, we find that major waves cluster around solar maxima - periods of intensified geomagnetic activity. Drawing on biomedical research linking geomagnetic disturbances to cardiovascular and stress regulation, and thus to emotional states, we propose that solar cycles modulate the affective ecologies within which revolutions arise. Solar activity may accelerate, shape, and amplify revolutionary cycles by heightening emotional climates and tipping fragile systems toward mass mobilization. This reframes revolutions as planetary events - entanglements of political conflict, embodied emotion, and cosmic …