The Stardust Chronicles

Event Date:
2025-10-20T16:00:00
2025-10-20T17:00:00
Event Location:
HENN 318
Speaker:
Larry Nittler, Arizona State University
Related Upcoming Events:
Astronomy Colloquia
Intended Audience:
Everyone
Local Contact:

Allison Man (aman@phas.ubc.ca) and Brett Gladman (gladman@astro.ubc.ca)

All are welcome to this event!

Event Information:

Abstract: 

Primitive extraterrestrial materials like meteorites and cometary dust contain rare and tiny grains of presolar stardust – dust that condensed in the outflows and explosions of previous generations of stars and were part of the original building blocks of our Solar System. A wide variety of phases (for example, silicates, oxides, carbides, nitrides) have been found and they are identified by extremely unusual isotopic signatures reflecting nucleosynthetic processes that occurred in their parent stars. This talk will trace the histories of some of these grains from the formation of their parental stars to their analysis in the laboratory to illustrate the wealth of astronomical information encoded in them: from galactic and stellar evolution to dust formation in stars to interstellar dust processing to the initial stages of planet formation at the dawn of the Solar System.

Bio:

Cosmochemist Larry Nittler studies the origin and evolution of stars, the galaxy, and the solar system, both through laboratory analysis of extraterrestrial materials like meteorites and returned comet and asteroid samples and through planetary remote sensing via spacecraft.  He has played leading roles in the analysis of comet and solar wind samples returned by NASA’s Stardust and Genesis missions, respectively, and served as deputy principal investigator on NASA’s MESSENGER mission to Mercury. He is currently a NASA Participating Scientist on the Japanese asteroid sample-return mission, Hayabusa2 and a member of the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo Mercury mission team. He received the Alfred O. Nier prize of the Meteoritical Society in 2001 and was named a fellow of the same society in 2010. Asteroid 5992 Nittler is named in his honor.

Learn More:

Add to Calendar 2025-10-20T16:00:00 2025-10-20T17:00:00 The Stardust Chronicles Event Information: Abstract:  Primitive extraterrestrial materials like meteorites and cometary dust contain rare and tiny grains of presolar stardust – dust that condensed in the outflows and explosions of previous generations of stars and were part of the original building blocks of our Solar System. A wide variety of phases (for example, silicates, oxides, carbides, nitrides) have been found and they are identified by extremely unusual isotopic signatures reflecting nucleosynthetic processes that occurred in their parent stars. This talk will trace the histories of some of these grains from the formation of their parental stars to their analysis in the laboratory to illustrate the wealth of astronomical information encoded in them: from galactic and stellar evolution to dust formation in stars to interstellar dust processing to the initial stages of planet formation at the dawn of the Solar System. Bio: Cosmochemist Larry Nittler studies the origin and evolution of stars, the galaxy, and the solar system, both through laboratory analysis of extraterrestrial materials like meteorites and returned comet and asteroid samples and through planetary remote sensing via spacecraft.  He has played leading roles in the analysis of comet and solar wind samples returned by NASA’s Stardust and Genesis missions, respectively, and served as deputy principal investigator on NASA’s MESSENGER mission to Mercury. He is currently a NASA Participating Scientist on the Japanese asteroid sample-return mission, Hayabusa2 and a member of the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo Mercury mission team. He received the Alfred O. Nier prize of the Meteoritical Society in 2001 and was named a fellow of the same society in 2010. Asteroid 5992 Nittler is named in his honor. Learn More: Read Larry's faculty webpage from the Arizona State University School of Earth and Space Exploration: https://search.asu.edu/profile/4084680 Watch "A trip to the early solar system: first results form returned asteroid Ryugu samples", with Larry Nittler: https://search.asu.edu/profile/4084680 Read about the Extraterrestrial Materials Analysis Group: https://www.lpi.usra.edu/exmag/  Event Location: HENN 318