Dix Planetary Science Seminar

Abstract: Calcium,Aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) found in primitive meteorites (chondrites) record the isotopic composition of the nascent Solar System. As a result, CAIs are a favored target when trying to understand the origin and evolution of the Solar System, including it's pre-history, the details of protoplanetary disk dynamics, and the stellar sources that contributed to the presolar molecular cloud. Here, I will discuss two recent isotopic investigations in CAIs. The first one is a wild chase looking for Curium-247, whose presence in the Early Solar System would place constraints on an old debate surrounding the number and astrophysical site of rapid-neutron capture nucleosynthesis (which forms the heaviest elements). The second one is a slow burning decomposition to identify the carriers of isotopic anomalies in CAIs, and what their identify reveals of the conditions in the early Solar System.