Sarah Hörst (born April 26, 1982) is an associate professor of

planetary sciences Planetary science (or more rarely, planetology) is the scientific study of planets (including Earth), celestial bodies (such as moons, asteroids, comets) and planetary systems (in particular those of the Solar System) and the processes of their ...

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

, who focuses on understanding planetary atmospheric

haze Haze is traditionally an atmospheric phenomenon in which dust, smoke, and other dry particulates suspended in air obscure visibility and the clarity of the sky. The World Meteorological Organization manual of codes includes a classification ...

s, in particular the atmosphere of

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...

's moon

Titan Titan most often refers to: * Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn * Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology Titan or Titans may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities Fictional locations * Titan in fiction, fictiona ...

Education

Hörst attended high school at Oak Hall School in

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...

. Her mother is a neuroscientist and her father was a medical doctor. She received a Bachelors in Planetary Science and Literature from the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

. At

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

she worked with Michael Brown studying Europa and Titan using the

Celestron Celestron is an American company based in Torrance, California, United States, that manufactures telescopes and distributes telescopes, binoculars, spotting scopes, microscopes, and accessories manufactured by its parent company, the Synta Technolo ...

telescope. Whilst the telescope has been described as "amateur", Hörst managed to image

to calculate a light curve and look for clouds. She was on the Caltech track team. After graduating in 2004, Hörst joined the

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States. Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...

and worked on the image analysis for the Imaging Science Subsystem of the

Cassini–Huygens ''Cassini–Huygens'' ( ), commonly called ''Cassini'', was a space research, space-research mission by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to send a space probe to study the planet Saturn and its system, i ...

spacecraft. She also worked at Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG). She earned her PhD, ''Post-Cassini Investigations of Titan Atmospheric Chemistry'', in 2011 from the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

. Here she worked in the

Lunar and Planetary Laboratory The Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL) is a research center for planetary science located in Tucson, Arizona. It is also a graduate school, constituting the Department of Planetary Sciences at the University of Arizona. LPL is one of the wo ...

studying the chemistry of Titan's atmosphere. Her team was the first to show that amino acids and nucleotide bases may be present in Titan's atmosphere. She was awarded the Peter B. Wagner Memorial Award for Women in Atmospheric Sciences.

Research

Hörst moved to the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado syst ...

as a

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow in 2011. In 2014, Hörst joined

as an Assistant Professor where she specializes in the atmospheric chemistry of planets and their moons. In March 2018 Hörst's group demonstrated that they could simulate the atmosphere of alien worlds inside the laboratory, allowing them to analyse the composition of their haze. The study will aid in the analysis of data collected by the

James Webb Space Telescope The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space telescope which conducts infrared astronomy. As the largest optical telescope in space, its high resolution and sensitivity allow it to view objects too old, distant, or faint for the Hubble Spa ...

, which

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

expect to launch in 2021. She is part of the Science & Engineering team for the ''

Dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threate ...

'' mission to

Awards and honors

Hörst won the

American Astronomical Society The American Astronomical Society (AAS, sometimes spoken as "double-A-S") is an American society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The primary objective of the AAS is to promote the adv ...

(AAS), Laboratory Astrophysics Division (LAD) Early Career Award for 2020. In 2020, she was awarded the

James B. Macelwane Medal The James B. Macelwane Medal is awarded annually by the American Geophysical Union to three to five early career scientists (no more than 10 years beyond having received their Ph.D.). It is named after James B. Macelwane, a Jesuit priest and one of ...

of the American Geophysical Union.

Writing and science outreach

Hörst's work has appeared in '' Smithsonian'', as well as on ''

SciShow ''SciShow'' is a collection of YouTube channels that focuses on science news. The program is hosted by Hank Green along with a rotating cast of co-hosts. ''SciShow'' was launched as an original channel. The series has been consistently releasing ...

'' and the

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

. She works with primary and secondary school teachers to enable them to use planetary science in their classroom. She has appeared on

The Planetary Society The Planetary Society is an American internationally-active non-governmental nonprofit organization. It is involved in research, public outreach, and political space advocacy Space advocacy is supporting or advocating for a human use of out ...

's show ''Planetary Radio''.

References

External links

*
Sarah Hörst's writing for The Planetary Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horst, Sarah Planetary scientists University of Arizona alumni American astrophysicists California Institute of Technology alumni Women planetary scientists Johns Hopkins University faculty Johns Hopkins University people 21st-century American astronomers 21st-century American physicists 21st-century American women scientists University of Colorado fellows Women astrophysicists