How do planetary atmospheres form?

Mark Garlick / markgarlick.com

What does the inside of super-Earths look like?

Mark Garlick / markgarlick.com

How do young planets grow?

Mark Garlick / markgarlick.com

What kind of world was the earliest Earth?

Mark Garlick / markgarlick.com

How diverse are exoplanet climates?

Mark Garlick / markgarlick.com

How frequent are worlds like our own?

ESO / M. Kornmesser

Which environments enable abiogenesis?

Don Dixon

Forming Worlds Lab

We investigate how rocky planets form, evolve, and develop the conditions for life. Our research connects planetary interiors, atmospheres, and climates across cosmic time, combining numerical modelling with observational constraints from the Solar System and exoplanets.

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Rocky Exoplanets

What are the primary types of rocky planets? What kind of interiors and atmospheres do super-Earth planets develop?

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Magma Oceans

How do magma oceans interact with early atmospheres? What can lava exoplanets reveal about planetary evolution?

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Origins of Life

What were the conditions on the earliest Earth? How frequent are worlds amenable to prebiotic chemistry?