planetary

The planetary scientist’s house survived, but unseen contaminants could be lurking in the soil.

At first, there was a sense of awe surrounding the public display of this extraordinary Martian find – less than 400 of the 50,000 meteorites discovered have been shown to come from our planetary neighbour.

“Just because you find something in a comet doesn’t mean that it can’t be a biosignature on a planetary atmosphere, because those are two very different environments.”

But for Qingzu Yin, a professor in the Department of Earth and planetary sciences at UC Davis, the transition is long overdue.

Prof Dougherty is one of the leading planetary scientists in her field.