Astrophysics with Extraterrestrial Materials

2016/06/30 by Larry R. Nittler, L. R. Nittler, Fred Ciesla +1 · 183 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrobiology #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Asymptotic giant branch #Cosmic dust #Extraterrestrial life #Formation and evolution of the Solar System #Interplanetary dust cloud #Meteorite #Nucleosynthesis #Physics #Planet #Planetary nebula #Planetary system #Presolar grains #Protoplanetary disk #Solar System #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies

paper · pdf · doi:10.1146/annurev-astro-082214-122505

published in Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics 54(1), 53-93 (Annual Reviews)

openalex publication_date 2016/06/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Extraterrestrial materials, including meteorites, interplanetary dust, and spacecraft-returned asteroidal and cometary samples, provide a record of the starting materials and early evolution of the Solar System. We review how laboratory analyses of these materials provide unique information, complementary to astronomical observations, about a wide variety of stellar, interstellar and protoplanetary processes. Presolar stardust grains retain the isotopic compositions of their stellar sources, mainly asymptotic giant branch stars and Type II supernovae. They serve as direct probes of nucleosynthetic and dust formation processes in stars, galactic chemical evolution, and interstellar dust processing. Extinct radioactivities suggest that the Sun's birth environment was decoupled from average galactic nucleosynthesis for some tens to hundreds of Myr but was enriched in short-lived isotopes from massive stellar winds or explosions shortly before or during formation of the Solar System. Radiometric dating of meteorite components tells us about the timing and duration over which solar nebula solids were assembled into the building blocks of the planets. Components of the most primitive meteoritical materials provide further detailed constraints on the formation, processing, and transport of material and associated timescales in the Sun's protoplanetary disk as well as in other forming planetary systems.

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