Author
Anton T. Kearsley
Other affiliations: University of Kent, American Museum of Natural History, Oxford Brookes University
Bio: Anton T. Kearsley is an academic researcher from Natural History Museum. The author has contributed to research in topics: Hypervelocity & Cosmic dust. The author has an hindex of 39, co-authored 200 publications receiving 6642 citations. Previous affiliations of Anton T. Kearsley include University of Kent & American Museum of Natural History.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
More filters
Donald E. Brownlee1, Peter Tsou2, Jérôme Aléon3, Conel M. O'd. Alexander4 +182 more•Institutions (57)
TL;DR: The Stardust spacecraft collected thousands of particles from comet 81P/Wild 2 and returned them to Earth for laboratory study, and preliminary examination shows that the nonvolatile portion of the comet is an unequilibrated assortment of materials that have both presolar and solar system origin.
Abstract: The Stardust spacecraft collected thousands of particles from comet 81P/Wild 2 and returned them to Earth for laboratory study. The preliminary examination of these samples shows that the nonvolatile portion of the comet is an unequilibrated assortment of materials that have both presolar and solar system origin. The comet contains an abundance of silicate grains that are much larger than predictions of interstellar grain models, and many of these are high-temperature minerals that appear to have formed in the inner regions of the solar nebula. Their presence in a comet proves that the formation of the solar system included mixing on the grandest scales.
886 citations
United States Naval Research Laboratory1, Brookhaven National Laboratory2, Space Sciences Laboratory3, Kingsborough Community College4, University of Münster5, Michigan State University6, Osaka University7, Jet Propulsion Laboratory8, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory9, Kobe University10, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility11, Washington University in St. Louis12, University of Chicago13, École normale supérieure de Lyon14, University of New Mexico15, Kyushu University16, University of Tokyo17, University of Washington18, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory19, University of Jena20, University of Hawaii21, American Museum of Natural History22, Case Western Reserve University23, University of Hyogo24, United States Geological Survey25, Imperial College London26, State University of New York System27, Open University28, Stanford University29
TL;DR: The bulk of the comet 81P/Wild 2 samples returned to Earth by the Stardust spacecraft appear to be weakly constructed mixtures of nanometer-scale grains, with occasional much larger ferromagnesian silicates, Fe-Ni sulfides,Fe-Ni metal, and accessory phases.
Abstract: The bulk of the comet 81P/Wild 2 (hereafter Wild 2) samples returned to Earth by the Stardust spacecraft appear to be weakly constructed mixtures of nanometer-scale grains, with occasional much larger (over 1 micrometer) ferromagnesian silicates, Fe-Ni sulfides, Fe-Ni metal, and accessory phases. The very wide range of olivine and low-Ca pyroxene compositions in comet Wild 2 requires a wide range of formation conditions, probably reflecting very different formation locations in the protoplanetary disk. The restricted compositional ranges of Fe-Ni sulfides, the wide range for silicates, and the absence of hydrous phases indicate that comet Wild 2 experienced little or no aqueous alteration. Less abundant Wild 2 materials include a refractory particle, whose presence appears to require radial transport in the early protoplanetary disk.
644 citations
University of California, Los Angeles1, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory2, University of Washington3, Carnegie Institution for Science4, Space Sciences Laboratory5, Washington University in St. Louis6, University of Manchester7, California Institute of Technology8, Max Planck Society9, Harvard University10, American Museum of Natural History11, Goddard Space Flight Center12, University of Minnesota13, Minnesota State University, Mankato14, Jet Propulsion Laboratory15, United States Naval Research Laboratory16
TL;DR: Hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotopic compositions are heterogeneous among comet 81P/Wild 2 particle fragments; however, extreme isotopic anomalies are rare, indicating that the comet is not a pristine aggregate of presolar materials.
Abstract: Hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotopic compositions are heterogeneous among comet 81P/Wild 2 particle fragments; however, extreme isotopic anomalies are rare, indicating that the comet is not a pristine aggregate of presolar materials. Nonterrestrial nitrogen and neon isotope ratios suggest that indigenous organic matter and highly volatile materials were successfully collected. Except for a single 17 O-enriched circumstellar stardust grain, silicate and oxide minerals have oxygen isotopic compositions consistent with solar system origin. One refractory grain is 16 O-enriched, like refractory inclusions in meteorites, suggesting that Wild 2 contains material formed at high temperature in the inner solar system and transported to the Kuiper belt before comet accretion.
370 citations
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory1, Open University2, University of Washington3, University of Kent4, University of California, San Diego5, University of Chicago6, Washington University in St. Louis7, Max Planck Society8, Natural History Museum9, Lille University of Science and Technology10, University of California, Berkeley11, University of Münster12, United States Naval Research Laboratory13, Spanish National Research Council14, California Institute of Technology15
TL;DR: Particles emanating from comet 81P/Wild 2 collided with the Stardust spacecraft at 6.1 kilometers per second, producing hypervelocity impact features on the collector surfaces that were returned to Earth.
Abstract: Particles emanating from comet 81P/Wild 2 collided with the Stardust spacecraft at 6.1 kilometers per second, producing hypervelocity impact features on the collector surfaces that were returned to Earth. The morphologies of these surprisingly diverse features were created by particles varying from dense mineral grains to loosely bound, polymineralic aggregates ranging from tens of nanometers to hundreds of micrometers in size. The cumulative size distribution of Wild 2 dust is shallower than that of comet Halley, yet steeper than that of comet Grigg-Skjellerup.
308 citations
State University of New York at Plattsburgh1, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility2, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory3, Goethe University Frankfurt4, Stanford University5, Open University6, University of Washington7, Smithsonian Institution8, Dartmouth College9, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory10, École normale supérieure de Lyon11, Washington University in St. Louis12, University of California, Berkeley13, Centre national de la recherche scientifique14, Max Planck Society15, Rutgers University16, University of Antwerp17, Natural History Museum18, University of Chicago19, university of lille20, Kyushu University21, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology22, California Institute of Technology23, University of Georgia24, University of New Mexico25, University of Münster26, United States Naval Research Laboratory27, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory28, Osaka University29, Ghent University30
TL;DR: The elements Cu, Zn, and Ga appear enriched in this Wild 2 material, which suggests that the CI meteorites may not represent the solar system composition for these moderately volatile minor elements.
Abstract: We measured the elemental compositions of material from 23 particles in aerogel and from residue in seven craters in aluminum foil that was collected during passage of the Stardust spacecraft through the coma of comet 81P/Wild 2. These particles are chemically heterogeneous at the largest size scale analyzed (similar to 180 ng). The mean elemental composition of this Wild 2 material is consistent with the CI meteorite composition, which is thought to represent the bulk composition of the solar system, for the elements Mg, Si, Mn, Fe, and Ni to 35%, and for Ca and Ti to 60%. The elements Cu, Zn, and Ga appear enriched in this Wild 2 material, which suggests that the CI meteorites may not represent the solar system composition for these moderately volatile minor elements.
224 citations
Cited by
More filters
TL;DR: Foldit is described, a multiplayer online game that engages non-scientists in solving hard prediction problems and shows that top-ranked Foldit players excel at solving challenging structure refinement problems in which substantial backbone rearrangements are necessary to achieve the burial of hydrophobic residues.
Abstract: A natural polypeptide chain can fold into a native protein in microseconds, but predicting such stable three-dimensional structure from any given amino-acid sequence and first physical principles remains a formidable computational challenge. Aiming to recruit human visual and strategic powers to the task, Seth Cooper, David Baker and colleagues turned their 'Rosetta' structure-prediction algorithm into an online multiplayer game called Foldit, in which thousands of non-scientists competed and collaborated to produce a rich set of new algorithms and search strategies for protein structure refinement. The work shows that even computationally complex scientific problems can be effectively crowd-sourced using interactive multiplayer games. Predicting the structure of a folded protein from first principles for any given amino-acid sequence remains a formidable computational challenge. To recruit human abilities to the task, these authors turned their Rosetta structure prediction algorithm into an online multiplayer game in which thousands of non-scientists competed and collaborated to produce new algorithms and search strategies for protein structure refinement. This shows that computationally complex problems can be effectively 'crowd-sourced' through interactive multiplayer games. People exert large amounts of problem-solving effort playing computer games. Simple image- and text-recognition tasks have been successfully ‘crowd-sourced’ through games1,2,3, but it is not clear if more complex scientific problems can be solved with human-directed computing. Protein structure prediction is one such problem: locating the biologically relevant native conformation of a protein is a formidable computational challenge given the very large size of the search space. Here we describe Foldit, a multiplayer online game that engages non-scientists in solving hard prediction problems. Foldit players interact with protein structures using direct manipulation tools and user-friendly versions of algorithms from the Rosetta structure prediction methodology4, while they compete and collaborate to optimize the computed energy. We show that top-ranked Foldit players excel at solving challenging structure refinement problems in which substantial backbone rearrangements are necessary to achieve the burial of hydrophobic residues. Players working collaboratively develop a rich assortment of new strategies and algorithms; unlike computational approaches, they explore not only the conformational space but also the space of possible search strategies. The integration of human visual problem-solving and strategy development capabilities with traditional computational algorithms through interactive multiplayer games is a powerful new approach to solving computationally-limited scientific problems.
1,265 citations
TL;DR: Simulation of the early Solar System shows how the inward migration of Jupiter to 1.5 au, and its subsequent outward migration, lead to a planetesimal disk truncated at 1’au; the terrestrial planets then form from this disk over the next 30–50 million years, with an Earth/Mars mass ratio consistent with observations.
Abstract: Jupiter and Saturn formed in a few million years from a gas-dominated protoplanetary disk, and were susceptible to gas-driven migration of their orbits on timescales of only approximately 100,000 years. Hydrodynamic simulations show that these giant planets can undergo a two-stage, inward-then-outward, migration. The terrestrial planets finished accreting much later and their characteristics, including Mars' small mass, are best reproduced by starting from a planetesimal disk with an outer edge at about one astronomical unit from the Sun (1 AU is the Earth-Sun distance). Here we report simulations of the early Solar System that show how the inward migration of Jupiter to 1.5 AU, and its subsequent outward migration, lead to a planetesimal disk truncated at 1 AU; the terrestrial planets then form from this disk over the next 30-50 million years, with an Earth/Mars mass ratio consistent with observations. Scattering by Jupiter initially empties but then repopulates the asteroid belt, with inner-belt bodies originating between 1 and 3 AU and outer-belt bodies originating between and beyond the giant planets. This explains the significant compositional differences across the asteroid belt. The key aspect missing from previous models of terrestrial planet formation is the substantial radial migration of the giant planets, which suggests that their behaviour is more similar to that inferred for extrasolar planets than previously thought.
1,174 citations
University of Erlangen-Nuremberg1, University of Zaragoza2, University of Cambridge3, University College London4, Pennsylvania State University5, University of Texas at Austin6, Vrije Universiteit Brussel7, Open University8, Imperial College London9, University of Münster10, University of Vienna11, Tohoku University12, Mexican Institute of Petroleum13, Natural Resources Canada14, Denver Museum of Nature and Science15, Humboldt University of Berlin16, Universities Space Research Association17, University of Missouri18, Chiba Institute of Technology19, Purdue University20, University of Notre Dame21, University of California, San Diego22, Planetary Science Institute23, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven24, National Autonomous University of Mexico25, Lund University26, University of Alaska Fairbanks27
TL;DR: Records of the global stratigraphy across this boundary are synthesized to assess the proposed causes of the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary and conclude that the Chicxulub impact triggered the mass extinction.
Abstract: The Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary similar to 65.5 million years ago marks one of the three largest mass extinctions in the past 500 million years. The extinction event coincided with a large asteroid impact at Chicxulub, Mexico, and occurred within the time of Deccan flood basalt volcanism in India. Here, we synthesize records of the global stratigraphy across this boundary to assess the proposed causes of the mass extinction. Notably, a single ejecta-rich deposit compositionally linked to the Chicxulub impact is globally distributed at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. The temporal match between the ejecta layer and the onset of the extinctions and the agreement of ecological patterns in the fossil record with modeled environmental perturbations (for example, darkness and cooling) lead us to conclude that the Chicxulub impact triggered the mass extinction.
1,135 citations
968 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a review examines the experimental achievements and puts them into the context of the dust processes in protoplanetary disks, concluding that the formation of planetesimals starts with the growth of fractal dust aggregates, followed by compaction processes.
Abstract: The formation of planetesimals, the kilometer-sized planetary precursors, is still a puzzling process. Considerable progress has been made over the past years in the physical description of the first stages of planetesimal formation, owing to extensive laboratory work. This review examines the experimental achievements and puts them into the context of the dust processes in protoplanetary disks. It has become clear that planetesimal formation starts with the growth of fractal dust aggregates, followed by compaction processes. As the dust-aggregate sizes increase, the mean collision velocity also increases, leading to the stalling of the growth and possibly to fragmentation, once the dust aggregates have reached decimeter sizes. A multitude of hypotheses for the further growth have been proposed, such as very sticky materials, secondary collision processes, enhanced growth at the snow line, or cumulative dust effects with gravitational instability. We will also critically review these ideas.
892 citations