Robin M. Canup (born November 20, 1968) is an American astrophysicist. Her main area of research concerns the origins of planets and satellites.[1] In 2003, Canup was awarded the Harold C. Urey Prize.[2] In April, 2022, Canup presented the findings of the Planetary Science Decadal Survey as co-chair of the Survey Steering Committee with Philip R. Christensen.[3]
Canup is known for her research based upon the giant impact hypothesis, using intensive modeling to simulate how planetary collisions unfold.[4][5][6][7] In 2012, Canup first published a refinement to the giant impact hypothesis, arguing that the Moon and the Earth formed in a series of steps that started with a massive collision of two planetary bodies, each larger than Mars, which then re-collided to form what we now call Earth.[8] After the re-collision, Earth was surrounded by a disk of material, which combined to form the Moon.[9] She has written a book on the origin of the Earth and Moon.[10] Canup has also published research describing a giant impact origin for Pluto and Charon.[11]
Canup is an accomplished ballet dancer and danced the lead role in Coppélia in the Boulder Ballet one week after finishing her dissertation.[12]
Origin of the Earth and Moon. Robin M. Canup, Kevin Righter (eds.) (2nd ed.). Tucson : Houston: University of Arizona Press. 2000-11-01. ISBN978-0-8165-2073-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
National Research Council (various) (2010). Defending Planet Earth:: Near-Earth Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies. National Academies Press. ISBN9780309149686. (member of Space Studies board)
Robin M. Canup, Kevin Righter, Nicolas Dauphas et al.: Origin of the Moon. In: Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry. Vol. 89, No 1. Dec. 2023.
