Steve Desch

About

Steve Desch is a professor of astrophysics in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at ASU. His research focuses on developing models of star and planet formation, using data from meteoritics and planetary science. He especially studies the origins of chondrules and meteorites. He also works in the fields of exoplanets and astrobiology and is Principal Investigator of the NASA-funded NExSS grant to study geochemical cycles on exoplanets to aid searches for signs of life on other planets. He has modeled small icy bodies to explore the likelihood of subsurface water on Pluto and its moon, Charon, the asteroid Ceres, and others. Additionally, he has recently advocated the concept of Arctic Ice Management, to study how to increase sea ice in the Arctic in response to climate change. Asteroid 9926 Desch is named after him.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Astrobiology
• Geology
• Physics
• Social Science
• Computer Security
• Sociology
• Paleontology
• Geochemistry
• Biology

Selected publications

• No evidence for interstellar fireballs in the CNEOS database

  Astronomy and Astrophysics · 2024-09-21 · 14 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Context . The detection of interstellar meteors, especially meteorite-dropping meteoroids, would be transformative, as this would enable direct sampling of material from other stellar systems on Earth. One candidate is the fireball observed by U.S. government sensors on January 8, 2014. It has been claimed that fragments of this meteoroid have been recovered from the ocean floor near Papua New Guinea and that they support an extrasolar origin. Based on its parameters reported in the Center for N…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Catching Element Formation In The Act

  arXiv (Cornell University) · 2019-02-08 · 5 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Gamma-ray astronomy explores the most energetic photons in nature to address some of the most pressing puzzles in contemporary astrophysics. It encompasses a wide range of objects and phenomena: stars, supernovae, novae, neutron stars, stellar-mass black holes, nucleosynthesis, the interstellar medium, cosmic rays and relativistic-particle acceleration, and the evolution of galaxies. MeV gamma-rays provide a unique probe of nuclear processes in astronomy, directly measuring radioactive decay, nu…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A Disintegrating Rocky World Shrouded in Dust and Gas: Mid-infrared Observations of K2-22 b Using JWST

  The Astrophysical Journal Letters · 2025-06-25 · 4 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Abstract The disintegrating ultrashort period rocky exoplanet K2-22 b periodically emits dusty clouds in a dynamically chaotic process resulting in a variable transit depth from 0% to 1.3%. The effluents that sublimate off the surface and condense out in space are probably representative of the formerly interior layers convectively transported to the molten surface. Transmission spectroscopy of these transiting clouds reveals spectral fingerprints of the interior composition of this rocky world.…

  PublisherDOI

• Exogeoscience and Its Role in Characterizing Exoplanet Habitability and\n the Detectability of Life

  arXiv (Cornell University) · 2020 · 2 citations

  The search for exoplanetary life must encompass the complex geological\nprocesses reflected in an exoplanet's atmosphere, or we risk reporting false\npositive and false negative detections. To do this, we must nurture the nascent\ndiscipline of "exogeoscience" to fully integrate astronomers, astrophysicists,\ngeoscientists, oceanographers, atmospheric chemists and biologists. Increased\nfunding for interdisciplinary research programs, supporting existing and future\nmultidisciplinary research no…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Be,La,U-rich spherules as microtektites of terrestrial laterites: What goes up must come down

  arXiv (Cornell University) · 2024-03-08 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Recently Loeb et al. (2024, "Recovery and Classification of Spherules from the Pacific Ocean Site of the CNEOS 2014 January 8 (IM1) Bolide", Res. Notes. Amer. Astron. Soc. 8, 39) reported the magnetic collection of millimeter-sized spherules from the seafloor near Papua New Guinea. About 22% had Mg/Si < 1/3 and were identified as a new "differentiated" variety of cosmic spherule ("D-type"). In a subset of 26 of these "D-type" spherules, 12 "BeLaU" spherules were found to be dominated by Fe an…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Supernova Injection into Forming Planetary Systems

  NSF · $497k · 2009–2013

Frequent coauthors

• H. C. Connolly

  University of Arizona

  17 shared

• J. Poirier

  9 shared

• T.F. Lin

  9 shared

• J. Carpenter

  9 shared

• Andreas Roesch

  9 shared

• Giada Arney

  Goddard Space Flight Center

  7 shared

• Aki Roberge

  Goddard Space Flight Center

  7 shared

• Ariel D. Anbar

  University of Louisiana at Lafayette

  6 shared

Education

• B.S.

  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

  1990

• M.S.

  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

  1991

• M.S., Astronomy and Astrophysics

  University of Chicago

  1992

• Ph.D., Physics

  University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

  1998

Awards & honors

• Asteroid 9926 Desch is named after him

Similar researchers at Arizona State University

• Greg Asnerh-157
• Philip Christensenh-130
• Alexandra Navrotskyh-105