معرفی
Dr. Will Grundy is an Astronomer at Lowell Observatory specializing in Planetary Science, with a PhD from the University of Arizona (1995). He maintains a significant research collaboration with Northern Arizona University through the Astrophysical Materials Laboratory.
His research focuses on spectroscopic, thermal, and imaging observations of outer Solar System bodies, particularly icy satellites and Kuiper belt objects including Pluto, Triton, Eris, and Makemake. He investigates how volatile surface ices seasonally interact with thin atmospheres, creating complex phenomena. Dr. Grundy studies cryogenic ices and ice mixtures in laboratory settings to support his observational work.
As a co-investigator on NASA's New Horizons mission, he led the surface composition science theme team that analyzed data from the Pluto system encounter (2015) and the Kuiper belt object Arrokoth (2019). He also directs projects to discover Kuiper belt binaries and determine their mutual orbits using the Hubble Space Telescope and adaptive optics at Keck and Gemini observatories.
His work analyzing orbital properties of transneptunian binaries provides critical insights into conditions in the protoplanetary nebula and the evolution of these distant objects. Current research includes supporting NASA's Lucy mission to study Jupiter's Trojan asteroids and utilizing data from the James Webb Space Telescope.
