IGA Lecture: 19th October – Dr. Ian Sanders (Trinity College Dublin, Emeritus) – Meteorites and the Origin of Planets

Dear Members,

Dr. Ian Sanders (Trinity College Dublin, emeritus) will be giving a talk on

“Meteorites and the Origin of Planets” at the Geological Survey of Ireland on the 19th of October. Please see below for further details.

Abstract: Most meteorites are fragments of our Solar System left over from its birth some 4.567 billion years ago, before the Earth was ‘born’. They were part of an innumerable number of tiny planets that grew from dust within an enormous rotating disk of dust and gas surrounding the infant Sun. They were made from a kind of cosmic sandstone – a weird mixture of metal grains, frozen droplets of silicate magma (called chondrules), and dust. Among the dust grains are surviving specks of stardust ejected from ancient stars that exploded and shed their contents back into the Galaxy before the Solar System came into existence. But exactly how these tiny planets became the Solar System we know today remains puzzling.

When and where: The lecture theatre in the Geological Survey of Ireland, Beggars Bush, Dublin 4 on Wednesday, October 19th, between 6:30 and 7:30 pm. Coffee and biscuits will available from 5:30 pm. All welcome.