Elisha Polomoski
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point

Abstract

The Cosmic Dust Cycle

Carl Sagan famously said "We are made of star stuff." Star stuff consists of hydrogen and helium from the Big Bang and heavy elements produced in the nuclear furnaces of stars and released to the cosmos as dust grains during the late stages of stellar evolution and supernovae explosions. This material undergoes morphological and mineralogical changes as it is incorporated into star formation regions and proto-planetary disks, eventually forming planets and ultimately ourselves.

Infrared observations of supernovae such as SN1987A, star systems in the earliest stages of planetary formation, and comets within our own Solar System all give clues as to the changing composition and morphology of dust grains. I will show observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope and the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility of dust phenomena and discuss their relevance to the cosmic cycle of dust evolution  from the formation of dust in supernovae to the composition of the dusty environments of young stars and the dust in the early Solar System.

Please come meet the speaker over refreshments from 3:45-4:10pm in the foyer on floor G above the lecture hall. All Welcome Host: Guy Worthey