Comets, Asteroids and Meteorites

• Credit value: 15 credits at Level 6
• Convenor: Professor Hilary Downes
• Assessment: one three-hour theory paper (60%), assessed lecture notes (20%) and practical material (20%)

In this module we discuss the origin and evolution of minor bodies in the solar system, and introduce you to the scientific literature on the nature and origin of comets, asteroids and meteorites.

Indicative syllabus

• Architecture of the solar system
• Dust in the solar system
• Structure and composition of comets
• Samples from comets
• Asteroid compositions and missions to asteroids
• Undifferentiated meteorites
• Fossil meteorites
• Iron cores of differentiated asteroids
• Asteroidal basalts, cumulates and mantle rocks
• Rubble piles and regolith breccias
• Meteorites from Mars

By the end of this module, you will understand major concepts such as:

• the structure and composition of comets and asteroids
• missions to comets and asteroids
• variations in meteorite compositions and mineralogy
• the nature of the meteorite record.