New insights into the evolution of the solar system
Chondrules in a section of primitive chondrite, Image courtesy of M. Champenois CRPG.
The grains and solids that have accumulated in meteorites can provide important insights into the evolution of the solar system. Dr Marc Chaussidon explains how the CEMYSS project’s work in developing new analytical techniques will help researchers learn more about the early years of the solar system Studies of meteorite composition can offer valuable insights into the formation of the solar system. Meteorites formed in the early years of the solar system have accumulated grains and solids throughout their evolution; this area forms the primary research focus of the CEMYSS project. “The idea of our project is to study meteorites and develop new analytical techniques to measure the isotopic www.euresearcher.com
composition of different components of meteorites. This will help us put the evolution of the solar system into the context of what astrophysicists have observed in young stars and their accretion disks,” says Dr Marc Chaussidon, the project’s scientific coordinator. Researchers in the project are using a special analytical tool called an ion microprobe to analyse the isotopic composition of meteorites. “We
can look at how the sun was formed from the mixture of inter-stellar gas and dust, and how this dust merged into small objects which then grew together to make bigger objects and planets,” explains Dr Chaussidon. “One very important observation which has emerged from various studies is that the processes involved in forming the sun were very rapid and led to the rapid formation of the
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