Planetary Science at The University of Manchester

我们试图了解太阳系的不同环境是如何随着时间的推移而形成和演变的，以及它们今天是如何运作的。我们研究从太空到达地球表面的样本(陨石)或由太空任务带回的样本(例如来自月球的阿波罗样本，来自小行星Itokawa的Hayabusa样本)。我们测定这些岩石样品的化学成分，以及它们所含的矿物，以解释它们形成的条件，以及在46亿年的太阳系历史中作用于它们的物理过程。包括地球在内的行星的组成是在45.6亿年前环绕不断增长的太阳的尘埃和气体圆盘中形成的。在最古老的陨石(球粒陨石)中，被称为球粒陨石的粒子保存了尘埃圆盘的化学记录，我们可以用它来理解行星生长的第一阶段。通过在实验室中制作球粒陨石的类似物，并将它们与陨石样本进行比较，我们可以测试生命所必需的元素是如何混合到构成地球和其他岩石行星的成分中的。最早的小行星--小行星--是由球粒陨石和微小矿物颗粒的混合物形成的。快速衰变的放射性在这些行星形成后不久就加热了它们，导致它们在内部融化。我们将进行实验，研究在加热的第一阶段，当小行星只有一小部分融化时，熔体的成分如何变化。我们还将分析这些融化的行星体陨石中的矿物以及化学成分和同位素。这将使我们能够跟踪加热和冷却的历史，从而了解更多关于融化发生的时间。它还将向我们展示小型小行星是如何进化的，以及元素在行星形成期间是如何表现的。然后，我们将更好地了解我们太阳系内和其他恒星周围行星的初始组成。太阳系不断受到来自我们银河系其他地方的高能粒子的照射。通过研究这些粒子对陨石样本的影响，我们将研究我们太阳系的银河系环境在其有生之年是如何变化的。月球有着漫长而多样的地质历史。月球内部的岩石融化后，熔岩从月球表面的火山中流出。我们将研究一些来自月球的更不寻常的岩石类型，这些岩石告诉我们熔融物质在上升到月球表面时成分是如何变化的。通过仔细研究组成月球岩石的矿物，并测量它们的年龄，我们将能够拼凑出月球过去的火山历史，并了解内部或外部驱动的部分熔融所起的作用。我们在实验室里唯一可以研究的火星样本是火星陨石。火星陨石包括一些代表起源于火星深处的熔岩，还有一些是火星破碎表面的碎片。我们将通过分析火星陨石样本来测量火星内部卤素元素和惰性气体的化学组成。这将有助于我们了解挥发性元素(很容易转化为气体的元素)和水是如何添加到岩石行星上的，这对于了解它们的来源和它们被添加到地球上的时间非常重要。

We seek to understand how our Solar System's diverse environments formed and evolved through time, and how they operate today. We study samples that arrived at the Earth's surface from space (meteorites) or were brought back by space missions (such as Apollo samples from the Moon, Hayabusa samples from asteroid Itokawa). We determine the chemistry of these rock samples, and the minerals they contain, to interpret the conditions in which they formed and the physical processes that acted upon them through 4.6 billion years of Solar System history. The compositions of the planets, including the Earth, were set as they formed in a disk of dust and gas that circled the growing Sun 4.56 billion years ago. Particles called chondrules in the most ancient meteorites (chondrites) preserve a record of the chemistry of the dusty disk that we can use to understand the first stages of planet growth. By making analogues of chondrules in the lab and comparing them to meteorite samples, we can test the way that elements essential for life were mixed into the ingredients that made the Earth and other rocky planets. The first asteroids - planetesimals - were formed from chondrules, as well as a mixture of tiny mineral grains. Fast-decaying radioactivity heated these planetesimals soon after they formed, causing them to melt inside. We will conduct experiments to study how the compositions of melts change during the first stages of heating, when only a small part of the planetesimal melts. We will also analyse the minerals as well as the chemical composition and isotopes in meteorites from these melted planetesimals. This will enable us to track the history of heating and cooling, and so learn more about when melting took place. It will also show us how small asteroids evolved and how elements behaved during the formation of the planets. We will then better understand the starting compositions of planets within our own Solar System and around other stars. The solar system is continuously irradiated by high-energy particles that originate elsewhere in our galaxy. By studying the effects of these particles on meteorite samples, we will investigate how our solar system's galactic environment has changed over its lifetime.The Moon has had a long and varied geological history. Lavas flowed from volcanoes on the Moon's surface after rocks in the interior of the Moon melted. We will study some of the more unusual types of rocks from the Moon that tell us about how the molten material changed in composition as it rose towards the surface. Through careful studies of the minerals that make up lunar rocks, and by measuring their ages, we will be able to piece together the Moon's volcanic past, and understand the role of internal or externally driven partial melting. The only samples from Mars that we can study in the laboratory are martian meteorites. Martian meteorites include some that represent lavas which originated deep inside Mars, and others that are pieces of the broken-up surface of the planet. We will measure the chemistry of the halogen elements and noble gases in the interior of Mars through analysing martian meteorite samples. This will help us understand how volatile elements (elements that are easily turned into gas) and water were added to the rocky planets, which is important for understanding their sources and the timing of when they were added to the Earth.