Monday, September 23, 2013

Physics Colloquium - Fri., Sept. 27, 4:30 PM, PSB 161

Dr. Glenn Macpherson
Smithsonian

Cosmochemical Evidence for Astrophysical Processes in the Early Solar System

            Isotopic and other studies of primitive material left over from the birth of the Solar system, such as chondrite meteorites and captured comet dust, provide evidence for the conditions, processes, and even timing of processes that occurred during the first ~ 1 m.y. of the solar system’s existence. The Sun likely was born in a giant molecular cloud similar to Orion and Carina, and its birth may have been immediately preceded by a nearby supernova. There also is good evidence that our Sun experienced bi-polar outflow during its infancy, a process that resulted in innermost-solar-system solid materials being ejected out to at least the asteroid belt and possibly as far as the comet accretion regions.



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