Speaker
Description
Asteroids are the building blocks of the Solar System, providing a record of the processes and events that shaped the planets. Dark C-type asteroids are thought to contain water and organic matter and were likely an important source of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and prebiotic molecules to the early Earth. Fragments of C-type asteroids arrive naturally on Earth as carbonaceous meteorites or can be directly sampled by space missions. However, characterizing these extra-terrestrial materials in the laboratory is challenging and requires analytical techniques that offer both high spatial resolution and sensitivity. I’ll talk about how synchrotron radiation is being applied to the study of asteroids and what we can learn about the earliest history of our solar system.
