Wes Watters
Whitehead Associate Professor of Critical Thought and Associate Professor of Astronomy
Planetary scientist who studies impact cratering and landscape evolution, while teaching courses about the geology and climates of rocky and icy worlds.
Planetary scientist who studies impact cratering and landscape evolution, while teaching courses about the geology and climates of rocky and icy worlds. Prof. Watters is also engaged in search for technosignatures and with understanding the role of anomalies in the history of science.
Education
- B.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Current and upcoming courses
Spacecraft observations have revealed a breathtaking diversity of geologic features in the solar system, such as the giant impact basins on Mars, towering thrust fault scarps on Mercury, coronae structures on Venus, and active volcanoes on Io and Enceladus. From a comparative perspective, this course examines the physical processes that drive the evolution of the planets and small bodies in the solar system. Topics include: planetary shape and internal structure, mechanisms of topographic support, tectonics, impacts, volcanism, and tides. Some class sessions are reserved for seminar-style discussions of journal articles. Students will produce a final project that involves researching a topic of their choosing.
(ASTR 303 and GEOS 313 are cross-listed courses.)-
Life in the Universe
ASTR100
This course investigates the origin of life on the Earth and the prospects for finding life elsewhere in the cosmos, and begins with an overview of the Earth's place in the solar system and the universe. The course examines the early history of the Earth and the development of life, changes in the sun that affect the Earth, characteristics of the other objects in our solar system and their potential for supporting life, the detection of planets around stars other than the sun, and the search for extraterrestrial life. Our exploration of our place in the universe will include some nighttime observing at our on-campus observatory.