Larry R. Nittler

Department of Terrestrial Magnetism
Carnegie Institution of Washington
5241 Broad Branch Rd NW
Washington DC 20015
phone: (202) 478-8460
fax: (202) 478-8821
e-mail: lnittler@ciw.edu

Welcome to Larry's page of earthly delights!

I am a staff scientist in the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. My primary research interests are in the laboratory analysis and scientific implications of extraterrestrial materials, including meteorites and interplanetary dust particles. I am very interested in presolar grains in meteorites and in the development of new techniques for isotopic analysis and mapping of small samples. I am actively involved in the analysis of cometary samples returned by NASA's STARDUST mission and solar wind samples returned by the GENESIS mission. I also work on X-ray and Gamma-ray spectrometers for planetary missions. I am currently on the Science Team for the MESSENGER mission, which is orbit about the planet Mercury.

MESSENGER

NASA's MESSENGER mission is the first spacecraft to visit the planet Mercury since 1975. It flew by the planet 3 times before its successful orbit insertion on March 18, 2011. It will orbit Mercury for at least one year and is already returning a wealth of scientific data from all its instruments. Click here for the July 4, 2008 special issue of Science reporting the first flyby results.

Asteroid 5992 Nitler

In 2002, the Committee on Small Body Nomenclature of the International Astronomical Union named an asteroid for me, 5992 Nittler. In June 2008, Inga Koch and colleagues at the Arizona astronomy camp observed 5992 Nittler and obtained a light curve.
  • Click here for more information about asteroid 5992 Nittler.
  • Click here to see where 5992 is today.
  • Click here for a movie of 5992 Nittler.

Science Stuff

Other Stuff