Cosmochemistry and Astromaterials

Cosmochemistry and Astromaterials

These areas of research pertain to the origin of the chemical elements, including processes of nucleosynthesis and alteration within interstellar clouds; the chemical makeup of the Solar System and its planets, asteroids, and comets, and early formational processes; and processes affecting the chemical evolution of Solar System bodies over the past 4.6 billion years. Advances in analytical methods, collections of planetary, asteroidal, cometary, and solar-wind materials from space missions and meteorite collections, new astronomical observations of protoplanetary disks and exoplanets, and advances in theoretical astrophysics are leading to a convergence of these diverse fields of investigation into a new understanding of the origin of our Solar System and planetary systems elsewhere in the Galaxy.    

Image caption: Merged images of asteroid 4-Vesta (above) and micrograph of a meteorite (below) thought to originate from this asteroid (Credit: Prof. Ryan Ogliore)