Thursday, July 03, 2025

New and exciting activities in the
McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences

Recent News from McDonnell Center Fellows

Unveiling Exoplanets: Ekrem Esmer's Quest

Are we alone? This is the question that drives Ekrem Esmer, a McDonnell Center Postdoctoral Fellow, in his search for exoplanets. While most studies focus on single star systems, Esmer investigates the less-explored realm of multistellar systems, which are abundant throughout the galaxy. His research aims to determine whether planets similar to the fictional Tatooine from Star Wars can form and thrive in multistellar environments, and if such planets could potentially support life.

Summer Research Experience - Trivia Lunch

The MCSS organized the second summer luncheon for the undergraduate research fellows, featuring a delicious burger bar catered by Red Robin. The event also included a space-themed trivia contest, featuring sections on photos, songs, and movies. Many thanks to Ryan Ogliore for thoughtfully preparing the trivia!

Congrats to Tegan Thomas, Manel Errando, and Sandro Xiao for scoring 12 out of 15 possible points!

MCSS 50th Anniversary Symposium Recordings

Some of the presentations given at the MCSS 50th Anniversary Symposium have now been made available as recordings. Please note that not all talks were recorded or are otherwise accessible.

In Memoriam

Tom Bernatowicz has written an obituary for Frank Podosek for The Meteoritical Society. Frank was a long-time Professor in the (then) Earth and Planetary Sciences department, an esteemed colleague, and a Fellow of the McDonnell Center.

American Astronomical Society Meeting

In June, Bill McKinnon gave an invited plenary talk at this summer's American Astronomical Society meeting in Anchorage. 

The talk, in the Laboratory Astrophysics Division, was titled, "Icy Ocean Worlds, Europa Clipper, and the Search for a Second Genesis."

Postdoc Andrea Gokus also gave a presentation at the meeting entitled "Exploring the High-Redshift Blazar Population with XMM-Newton and NuSTAR."

International Symposium on Nuclei in the Cosmos XVIII

Katharina Lodders and Bruce Fegley recently traveled to Girona, Spain for the biennial meeting of the International Symposium on Nuclei in the Cosmos. Katharina gave an invited talk with Maria Bergemann titled, "Solar System Elemental Abundances."

McDonnell Center Graduate Fellow Gabrielle Adams also gave a paper at the conference, "Effects of Metallicity on Graphite, TiC, and SiC Condensation in Carbon Stars” and presented a poster, “Condensation in Circumstellar Envelopes of M-type, S-type, and C-type Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars."

McDonnell Center Fellows in the News

Ancient moon volcanoes made tiny glass beads. Here's what they mean.
Ryan Ogliore | Mashable

Recent Publications by McDonnell Center Fellows

Ledingham, G. J., Catalano, J. G., et al. (2025). Short-Term inhibition and Long-Term enhancement of irreversible trace metal binding to Goethite in Multi-Metal systems. Environmental Science & Technology. 

Lodders, K., Fegley, B., et al. Condensation and the Volatility Trend of the Earth. Space Sci Rev 221, 54 (2025). 

Liodakis, I., Krawczynski, H., et al. (2025). Determining the origin of the X-ray emission in blazars through multiwavelength polarization. Astronomy and Astrophysics. 

Ni, L., Sobotka, L., et al. (2025). Observation of Three-Proton-Decaying resonant states in 21AL. Physics Letters B, 139660. 

The Search for Interstellar Objects of Technological Origin

St. Louis Astronomical Society
July Meeting
Abraham (Avi) Loeb, Harvard University
Friday, July 18
7:30pm, McDonnell 162

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Interim Director: William McKinnon
Associate Director: Michael Nowak
Assistant to the Director: Vickie Gee
Communications Specialist: Alison Verbeck

Compiled and edited by Alison Verbeck. Please send any contributions to alison@wustl.edu.

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