About
Dr. Fegley and Dr. Lodders apply chemistry to key problems in astronomy, cosmochemistry, and planetary science. Experimental studies and theoretical models are used to study a wide range of problems related to the chemistry taking place in these environments:
- atmospheres and circumstellar envelopes around cool stars
- brown dwarfs (so-called failed stars)
- extrasolar gas giant planets
- Jupiter’s satellite Io
- meteorite parent bodies
- the gas giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus
- the lower atmosphere and surface of Venus
- the solar nebula
- Titan, which is Saturn’s largest satellite
A list of some of our ongoing and recent projects is given below.
- atmospheric chemistry of the brown dwarf Gliese 229 B
- formation of silicon carbide grains around red giant stars
- iron metal oxidation in the solar nebula
- the oxygen isotope mixing (OIM) model for the composition of Mars
- tremolite decomposition on Venus
- volcanic gas chemistry on Io