Physics Colloquium with Ryan Ogliore on "The Case of the Missing Interstellar Amorphous Silicate"

Astronomical observations show that silicate dust in interstellar space and in the outer parts of accretion disks of young Sun-like stars is almost entirely amorphous. These amorphous silicate dust grains are the building blocks of planetary systems in our galaxy, but have not been definitively identified in the rock record of the nascent Solar System. In this talk, Ogliore will discuss our recent studies that show comets, messengers from the deep-freeze of the Kuiper Belt, accreted and retained disparate components: the missing interstellar building blocks, and crystals formed in energetic outbursts from the young Sun.