When
3:30 p.m., May 13, 2010
Where
Kuiper Space Sciences Building 308
Dr. David O'Brien of the Planetary Science Institute is the scheduled speaker.
The terrestrial planets in our Solar System pose numerous paradoxes. Dr. O'Brien will present results from recent studies of our own Solar System, and discuss how this work is being applied to modeling terrestrial planet formation around other stars.
For example, despite being the product of repeated high-velocity collisions between Moon- to Mars-sized planetary embryos, the terrestrial planets have relatively low eccentricities and inclinations.
As the Earth was forming, the solar nebula in its vicinity was too hot for ice to condense, yet the Earth today has abundant water. Radial mixing during late stage planetary accretion is significant, yet the final planetary bodies retain distinct chemical and isotopic signatures.
High-resolution N-body simulations, coupled with chemical models and analyzed in the context of dynamical, geochemical, and meteoritic evidence, have begun to resolve many of these issues and form a coherent picture of planet formation in the inner Solar System.
The terrestrial planets in our Solar System pose numerous paradoxes. Dr. O'Brien will present results from recent studies of our own Solar System, and discuss how this work is being applied to modeling terrestrial planet formation around other stars.
For example, despite being the product of repeated high-velocity collisions between Moon- to Mars-sized planetary embryos, the terrestrial planets have relatively low eccentricities and inclinations.
As the Earth was forming, the solar nebula in its vicinity was too hot for ice to condense, yet the Earth today has abundant water. Radial mixing during late stage planetary accretion is significant, yet the final planetary bodies retain distinct chemical and isotopic signatures.
High-resolution N-body simulations, coupled with chemical models and analyzed in the context of dynamical, geochemical, and meteoritic evidence, have begun to resolve many of these issues and form a coherent picture of planet formation in the inner Solar System.
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