Br. Guy Consolmagno, SJ - Meteorites, Asteroids, and the Stratigraphy of the Early Solar System

Summary: Meteorites represent an invaluable resource of geological material from the asteroids, sampling their mineralogy, geochemistry, and small-scale structure. Meteorite physical properties, in particular density and porosity, can be tied to recently determined asteroid physical properties. Our measurements show that both meteorite and asteroid porosities appear to increase as one travels further from the Sun. Thus one can envision a solar nebula where distance from the sun controls the composition of the material accreting into planets, and the physical nature of that material. Brother Guy Consolmagno SJ was born in Detroit, Michigan. He earned undergraduate and masters’ degrees from MIT, and a Ph. D. in Planetary Science from the University of Arizona, was a researcher at Harvard and MIT, served in the US Peace Corps, and taught university physics at Lafayette College before entering the Jesuits in 1989. At the Vatican Observatory since 1993, his research explores connections between meteorites, asteroids, and the evolution of small solar system bodies, observing Kuiper Belt comets with the Vatican’s 1.8 meter telescope in Arizona, and curating the Vatican meteorite collection. Along with more than 100 scientific publications, he is the author of a number of popular books including his latest, God’s Mechanics: How Scientists and Engineers Make Sense of Religion. Dr. Consolmagno has served on the governing boards of the Meteoritical Society; is the past president of the International Astronomical Union, Commission 16 (Planets and Satellites) and secretary of Division III (Planetary Systems Sciences); and presently serves as chair of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society. This year he holds the Loyola Chair for visiting Jesuit scholars at Fordham University.