Research

I am a co-investigator on the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) instrument team. CIRS is one of twelve scientific instruments located on the Cassini spacecraft. Cassini is the orbiter part of the Cassini-Huygens mission to the Saturn system. Huygens is the lander, which touched down on the surface of Satun's largest moon Titan, on January 14th 2005. This picture shows the location of CIRS on Cassini.

Cassini CIRS (click for larger image)

The CIRS instrument is an infrared spectrometer: meaning that it disperses infrared light, or heat, into different wavelengths, or colors. This is the same principle as a glass prism splitting visible light into the colors of the rainbow (red, green, blue, ...) except that CIRS does this for invisible heat rays.

Why are we interested in invisible heat rays?

Planets all radiate heat to varying degrees. By analysing the amount of heat emitted at different wavelengths (the infrared spectrum), scientists can tell a lot about where and how and by what the heat was emitted. In particular, CIRS is used to tell the gaseous composition of planetary atmospheres, how hot the gases are, and even what ices are on the surfaces of moons or making up the rings of Saturn.

This figure is an example infrared spectrum of Saturn's giant moon Titan taken by CIRS. The sharp peaks in the spectrum are the signature of particular gas species. We can see that Titan's spectrum is different to the Earth's, with many trace hydrocarbons present.

CIRS Titan spectrum

Titan is the only moon in the entire solar system to have a substantial atmosphere. Titan's atmosphere is mostly nitrogen gas, like the Earth's atmosphere, but has substantial differences too. Temperatures are much colder on Titan, and there is no oxygen to breath.

You can download my Titan factsheet here (90 kb PDF).

Research Areas

My research is focused on the composition of planetary atmospheres, including:
You can browse list of my publications and conference presentations.

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