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Dale Cruikshank

Dale Cruikshank 
Principal Scientific Interests:

Dr. Dale Cruikshank has pioneered the application of infrared spectroscopy to small bodies in the outer Solar System. His discoveries confirm the conjecture that ices are the dominant component of OSS bodies. With colleagues, he discovered the five ices known on Triton, the three ices known on Pluto, and water ice on four large satellites of Uranus, two satellites of Saturn, Neptune's satellite Nereid, and Pluto's satellite. With colleagues, he was first to find H2O ice in the Kuiper Belt, and methanol ice on a Centaur that links these bodies to comets. The ices he found on Triton and Pluto are the sources of the atmospheres of these two bodies.

He co-discovered bands in Io's spectrum, later identified as volcanic SO2, the source of that object's variable atmosphere. Cruikshank pioneered in thermal infrared determinations of the albedos of small bodies beyond the asteroid main belt, leading to the recognition that low-albedo material is prevalent in the OSS. His spectroscopic observations and models gave the first firm evidence for complex organic solids a planetary body (Saturn's satellite Iapetus), and provide the basis for work in progress on the identification of such materials on trans-Neptunian bodies and related bodies in the OSS. Cruikshank's infrared spectroscopic work was the first to identify specific near-Earth asteroids as sources of basaltic meteorites, and specific main-belt asteroids as sources of other classes of differentiated meteorites. Back on Earth, in 1972 he discovered hydrogen combustion in burning volcanic gases by spectroscopy, solving a century-old puzzle.

Honors and Awards:

Manned Flight Awareness Award, NASA Ames Research Center

Honor Award-Scientist, NASA Ames Research Center

NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement (recognizing research on organic matter in the Solar System)

Muhlmann Prize of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (for the best research work at Mauna Kea Observatories)

Group Achievement Award, Infrared Spectrometer Team (IRIS) on the Voyager Mission at Saturn

Group Achievement Award, Infrared Spectrometer Team (IRIS) on the Voyager Mission at Uranus

Asteroid 3531 named Cruikshank by the International Astronomical Union (recognizing excellence in research on Solar System topics, and the outreach for scientific exchange with the USSR)

Group Achievement Award, Infrared Spectrometer Team (IRIS) on the Voyager Mission at Neptune

Elected Fellow, California Academy of Science

NASA group achievement award for work on Cassini VIMS team

Cruikshank's research and publication record has been extensive and sustained, since his first years in graduate school. By the time he received his Ph.D. at the University of Arizona, he had authored or coauthored 21 research papers. Of the more than 250 professional publications in his full bibliography, he has authored or coauthored 78 refereed research papers in scientific journals and books since joining NASA in 1988.

Recent publications:

Stansberry, J. A.; Grundy, W. M.; Margot, J. L.; Cruikshank, D. P.; Emery, J. P.; Rieke, G. H.; Trilling, D. E. (2006) The Albedo, Size, and Density of Binary Kuiper Belt Object (47171) 1999 TC36. ApJ., 643, 556.

Brown, Robert H.; Clark, Roger N.; Buratti, Bonnie J.; Cruikshank, Dale P.; Barnes, Jason W.; Mastrapa, Rachel M. E.; Bauer, J.; Newman, S.; Momary, T.; Baines, K. H.; and 15 coauthors (2006) Composition and Physical Properties of Enceladus' Surface Science, Volume 311, Issue 5766, pp. 1425-1428. Available online.

Bernstein, M. P.; Cruikshank, D. P.; Sandford, S. A. (2006) Near-infrared laboratory spectra of CH4 in Solid H2O. Icarus Volume 181, Issue 1, March 2006, Pages 302-30 Available online.

Brown, R. H.; Baines, K. H.; Bellucci, G.; Buratti, B. J.; Capaccioni, F.; Cerroni, P.; Clark, R. N.; Coradini, A.; Cruikshank, D. P.; Drossart, P.; and 16 coauthors (2006) Observations in the Saturn system during approach and orbital insertion, with Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIMS). Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 446, Issue 2, February I 2006, pp.707-716. Available online.

Clark, R. N. and the Cassini VIMS Team. (2005) Compositional mapping of Saturn's moon Phoebe with imaging spectroscopy. Nature, 435, 66-69.

Contact information for Dale Cruikshank:

Email: dcruikshank@mail.arc.nasa.gov

Telephone: +1 650-604-4244

Fax: +1 650-604-6779

Post: Mail Stop 245-6,

NASA Ames Research Center,

Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000

U.S.A.


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