Astronomy Group - Daniel Cotton
Current Gold Star holder for being the most evil.
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Daniel Cotton has recently obtained a PhD in Physics from the University of Newcastle and is now engaged in studies of the Venusian atmosphere with Jeremy Bailey at Macquarie University.
His PhD thesis is entitled 'Near-field Scanning Optical Lithography for Nanostructuring Electroactive Polymers'. Daniel has a BSc.(Hons.) in Physics and a BSc. with majors in Physics and Chemistry from the University of Newcastle. He has in the past been engaged in research on Silane modification of surfaces, Solar and Terrestrial weather, and Polymer Lithography. He has also been involved with the NSW School of Space Science as an organiser, and with the Science and Engineering Challenge as an event assistant.
Daniel is also a published writer of popular science articles, science fiction and science poetry. He has won two Australian national titles and one NSW state title in the sport of radio control model car racing.
Latitudinal Variation of CO in the Venusian Atmopshere
The present project aims to determine the latitudinal distribution of carbon monoxide in the Venusian lower atmosphere (c 35km). It involves the analysis of data cubes obtained from observations, of the planet Venus in the 2.3 micron window (K-band), with the AAT's IRIS2 instrument in 2005 and 2007. In order to obtain CO mixing ratios from observation, VSTAR modelling software will be utilised.