Sarah Steele awarded a 51 Pegasi b Fellowship!

Congratulations to Sarah Steele, Ph.D. ’25, who has been awarded a 51 Pegasi b Fellowship from the Heising-Simons Foundation! The 51 Pegasi b Fellowship provides postdoctoral scientists with the opportunity to conduct theoretical, observational, and experimental research in planetary astronomy.

As a 51 Pegasi b Fellow, Dr. Steele will turn her attention to Earth’s Moon. In one project, she will use geodynamical models to explore how early episodes of tidal heating—heating caused through friction as the Moon was repeatedly stretched and squeezed by Earth’s gravity—could be recorded in the Moon’s magnetic history. These magnetic clues could shed light on the impact that formed the Moon. In a second project, she will use modeling of lunar impact basins to test hypotheses on why the Moon’s magnetic field appears to have flickered on and off later in its history. By combining these approaches with other lunar observations, she aims to clarify when and how the Moon formed and how its interior evolved over time. 

Dr. Steele hopes her work will inform upcoming missions to icy moons, including the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice), Dragonfly, and Europa Clipper. Just as important, she hopes to expand access to planetary science programs like the one that first opened the world of paleomagnetism to her.