My overarching research goal is to answer basic questions about the origin and evolution of the small bodies of the solar system — the meteoroids, comets, asteroids and meteorites that record how the planets formed and that still collide with the Earth today.
Our work is organised around three questions:
- Where do they come from? Linking meteoroids and meteorites to comets and asteroid families through their orbits.
- What are they made of? Measuring the density, strength and structure of meteoroids from how they ablate and fragment in the atmosphere.
- How often do they hit us? Measuring the flux of metre- to decametre-sized impactors and the damage they can do at the ground.
Research areas
Impact Hazard & NEO Flux
The collision rate of near-Earth objects and the physics of airbursts.
Meteorites & Their Orbits
Orbits for recovered meteorites that point back to their parent bodies.
Meteoroid Streams
Dynamical models that connect meteor showers to their parents.
Faint Meteors & CAMO
High-resolution optical tracking of the smallest meteors.
Radar Meteor Physics
The Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar and what it tells us about dust at Earth.
Infrasound & Shock Waves
Acoustic and seismic detection of bolides and their explosions.
Space Situational Awareness
Optical tracking of low-Earth-orbit satellites and debris.
Tagish Lake Meteorite
A rare carbonaceous chondrite and a sample of the outer solar system.
Instruments & facilities
- CMORCanadian Meteor Orbit Radar — 3 frequencies, 20M+ orbits
- CAMOCanadian Automated Meteor Observatory — mirror-tracked optics
- EMCCD networkselectron-multiplying cameras for the faintest meteors
- ELFO & IMS infrasoundlocal infrasound array plus access to the global infrasound monitoring network
- Satellite bolide dataUS Government sensors & GOES-GLM lightning mapper
- Project Luciolefly’s-eye optical array for LEO tracking
- Global Meteor Networka worldwide network of video meteor stations