Research

Gesharim

Gesharim is a new collaborative project between the Weizmann and The Hamburg University of Applied Sciences. With the leadership of Dr. Marcel Völschow at HAW, and the advising of Dr. Aviv Ofir and Dr. Volker Perdelwitz at WIS, we are training the next generation of astronomical data scientists and building bridges between our institutions.

Space Missions

Aharonson and his group are engaged in a number of spacecraft exploration missions throughout the Solar System.

Exoplanets

We seek to measure basic exoplanetary properties, addressing fundamental questions on the formation and evolution of exoplanetary systems. By coupling our innovative modeling tools with a suite of new observatories' data, we derive original quantitative constraints on the physical properties of exoplanets. We use existing data from Kepler, K2, and TESS, and expected data from PLATO, LAST and ULTRASAT.

Moon

The Moon is locked in a resonance. Like a faithful dancing partner, it spins and circles such that it always points the same face towards us on Earth. The near-side of the Moon is largely covered by dense, topographically low, dark volcanic material, the pattern of which to some, resembles the image of a man's face.

Mars

The Holden NE distributary system is a unique sedimentary structure on Mars. The well-preserved nature of channels and layered outcrops exposed in this landform is unparalleled among known geologic features on Mars. This fact allows for a more rigorous and quantitative approach to geomorphologic interpretation than is often possible on Mars.

Planetary Lab Simulations

The regolith of Mars represents a significant reservoir of water in the form of ice, adsorbed water, and surface frosts and mantles. The subsurface can couple strongly with atmospheric water vapor and the exchange between the two is an important process on timescales from diurnal to hundreds of thousands of years.