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Goals

Research in the Young Laboratory is directed towards understanding whence we came. We study the solar system and compare our findings with star and planet formation occurring today in the Galaxy. Our targets for study include the planets and their atmospheres, the Moon, asteroids, and the interstellar medium. The gallery below contains images representing the breadth of our research program (click images to enlarge). The images represent studies of the solar protoplanetary disk, ancient minerals in meteorites, the isotope chemistry of the interstellar medium, rocky bodies of the inner solar system, and the chemistry of Earth's atmosphere.

Tools

Our primary observations include the chemistry of rocks and gases, the chemistry of the interstellar medium, and the chemistry of polluted white dwarf stars. Our tools include isotope ratio mass spectrometry, reconstructions of the origins of solar-system nuclides, and spectroscopic determinations of isotope ratios in the interstellar medium. The gallery below includes images of tools we use in our research program (click images to enlarge). Examples include some of the largest telescopes in the world, vacuum-line experiments, novel mass spectrometers, and a variety of laboratory-based and computational studies.