Astronomy

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The summer after my freshman year I was awarded a SURF grant to research at CalTech under Marvin L. Goldberger Professor of Planetary Science David J. Stevenson. Our aim was to learn more about Jupiter's interior by refining the range of possible sizes and masses that the planet's core could take on. The motivation for this project was the arrival of NASA's Mission Juno spacecraft at Jupiter that summer, whose Gravity Science Experiment has detected slight disturbances in the spacecraft's orbit about Jupiter in order to accurately measure the planet's moment of inertia. Starting with a simple equation of hydrostatic equilibrium in Jupiter's envelope, the planet's equation of state was perturbed to model changes in the envelope's heavy element makeup, and the resulting effects on the core's theoretical radius and mass were studied. 

I wrote a paper summarizing my research called "Uncertainties in the Determination of Jupiter's Core" and presented my findings to a board of CalTech faculty at the end of the fellowship. I was also invited to JPL on July 4th to witness the Jupiter Orbital Insertion (JOI) surrounded by the engineers and scientists that made the mission possible. My paper and presentation are included below.