November 6, 2024

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Speaker: Ngoc Truong, Postdoctoral Researcher, Southwest Research Institute

Host: Brandon Jones

Title: The “solar abundances” problem: From two-decades of discrepancy to today’s progress and implications for outer solar system origins and habitability

Abstract: The Sun’s heavy element abundances play a critical role in shaping the formation and composition of solar system objects. They also serve as benchmarks for understanding other stars’ elemental compositions. However, the past two decades have experienced a long-standing tension in the measured solar composition between spectroscopy and helioseismology, often referred to as the ‘solar abundances’ problem. More recently, spacecraft missions to primitive solar system bodies, such as comets and Kuiper belt objects, along with returned samples from asteroids Ryugu and Bennu, have uncovered intriguing details about early solar system chemistry. Combined with new data from solar C-N-O neutrino and solar wind measurements, I will describe some recent progress to revise the solar composition and its implications for understanding the origin of heavy elements in the outer giant planets. Within the outer solar system, NASA spacecraft missions have discovered the presence of liquid water beneath the frigid icy surfaces of several outer planets’ satellites (e.g. Europa, Titan and Enceladus among many other potential ocean worlds). The next frontier is understanding if these environments might be capable to support life. I will describe some of our recent efforts to assess the presence of essential nutrients and free energy sources to drive metabolic processes – all critical factors to determine whether life can exist these environments.

Biography: Ngoc Truong is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, following his PhD in Planetary Science from Cornell University. His research focuses on connecting the composition and origin of outer solar system objects, all from primitive bodies in the solar nebula to outer planets and their icy satellites. Through theoretical modelling and involvement in spacecraft missions, he aims to understand the origins of outer planetary systems along with processes that establish and maintain habitability within their icy moons. Currently, he is part of Juno’s Origins Working Group and contributes to the Europa Clipper mission through its MASPEX mass spectrometer.