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We discuss various photometric techniques and their absolute scales in relation to the information that can be derived from the relevant data. We also outline a new scattering model for atmosphereless bodies in the solar system and show how it fits Mariner 10 surface photometry of the planet Mercury. It is shown how important the correct scattering law is while deriving the topography by photoclinometry.
A class of isotope effects that alters isotope ratios on a mass-independent basis provides a tool for studying a wide range of processes in atmospheres of Earth and other planets as well as early processes in the solar nebula. The mechanism for the effect remains uncertain. Mass-independent isotopic compositions have been observed in O3, CO2, N2O, and CO in Earth's atmosphere and in carbonate from a martian meteorite, which suggests a role for mass-independent processes in the atmosphere of Mars. Observed mass-independent meteoritic oxygen and sulfur isotopic compositions may derive from chemical processes in the presolar nebula, and their distributions could provide insight into early solar system evolution.
In this paper we summarize some of the most salient observations made recently on the organic molecules and other compounds of the biogenic elements present in the interstellar medium and in the primitive bodies of the solar system. They include the discovery of the first phosphorus molecular species in dense interstellar clouds, the presence of complex organic ions in the dust and gas phase of Halley's coma, the finding of unusual, probably presolar, deuterium-hydrogen ratios in the amino acids of carbonaceous chondrites, and new developments on the chemical evolution of Titan, the primitive Earth, and early Mars. Some of the outstanding problems concerning the synthesis of organic molecules on different cosmic bodies are also discussed from an exobiological perspective.
We have been studying the survival rates of some species of terrestrial unicellular and multicellular organism (viruses, bacteria, yeasts, fungi, algae, etc.) under simulated interstellar conditions, in connection with planetary quarantine. The interstellar environment in the solar system has been simulated by low temperature, high vacuum (77 K, 4 x 10(-8) torr), and proton irradiation from a Van de Graaff generator. After exposure to a barrage of protons corresponding to about 250 years of irradiation in solar space, tobacco mosaic virus, Bacillus subtilis spores, Staphylococcus aureus, Micrococcus flavus, Aspergillus niger spores, and Clostridium mangenoti spores showed survival rates of 82, 45, 74, 13, 28, and 25%, respectively.
Ion irradiation of carbon containing ices produces several effects among which the formation of complex molecules and even refractory organic materials whose spectral color and molecular complexity both depend on the amount of deposited energy. Here results from laboratory experiments are summarized. Their relevance for the formation and evolution of simple molecules and complex organic materials on planetary bodies in the external Solar System is outlined.
The totality of new and previous optical observations of a class of high-albedo solar system objects at small phase angles reveals a unique combination of extremely narrow brightness and polarization features centered at exactly the opposition. The specific morphological parameters of these features provide an almost unequivocal evidence that they are caused by the renowned effect of coherent backscattering.
Planets are believed to have formed through the accumulation of a large number of small bodies. In the case of the gas-giant planets Jupiter and Saturn, they accreted a significant amount of gas directly from the protosolar nebula after accumulating solid cores of about 5-15 Earth masses. Such models, however, have been unable to produce the smaller ice giants Uranus and Neptune at their present locations, because in that region of the Solar System the small planetary bodies will have been more widely spaced, and less tightly bound gravitationally to the Sun. When applied to the current Jupiter-Saturn zone, a recent theory predicts that, in addition to the solid cores of Jupiter and Saturn, two or three other solid bodies of comparable mass are likely to have formed. Here we report the results of model calculations that demonstrate that such cores will have been gravitationally scattered outwards as Jupiter, and perhaps Saturn, accreted nebular gas. The orbits of these cores then evolve into orbits that resemble those of Uranus and Neptune, as a result of gravitational interactions with the small bodies in the outer disk of the protosolar nebula.
The present experiment indicates that oligopeptides are easily produced in solid state from mixtures of simple amino acids by irradiating with high energy charged particles. We investigated such amino acids and their mixtures as tryptophan, tyrosine and glycine. The thin films was irradiated with protons (6.6 MeV). Such dipeptides as Trp-Trp, Gly-Tyr, Tyr-Gly, and Tyr-Tyr have been detected as products of irradiation. Cosmic rays might be an effective energy source for abiotic formation of bioorganic compounds on the surface of small bodies in the solar system on early stage of formation of planets as well as at present day.
The decay of 182Hf, now extinct, into stable 182W has developed into an important chronometer for studying early solar system processes such as the accretion and differentiation of planetesimals and the formation of the Earth and the Moon. The only 182Hf half-life measurements available were performed 40 years ago and resulted in an imprecise half-life of (9+/-2)x10(6) yr. We redetermined the half-life by measuring the specific activity of 182Hf based on two independent methods, resulting in a value of t(1/2)(182Hf)=(8.90+/-0.09)x10(6) yr, in good agreement with the previous value, but with a 20 times smaller uncertainty. The greatly improved precision of this half-life now permits very precise intercalibration of the 182Hf-182W isotopic system with other chronometers.
We have detected the 3 nu 2 band of CH3D in the spectrum of Neptune near 1.6 micrometers recorded at a spectral resolution of 4 cm-1 with the Cassegrain Fourier Transform Spectrometer at the 3.6 m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) on Mauna Kea. Our analysis of this spectrum, using spectral synthesis techniques, yielded a CH3D/CH4 ratio of 6(+6)(-4) x 10(-4), which corresponds to a global D/H ratio for Neptune of 1.2(+1.2)(-0.8) x 10(-4), if CH3D is in isotopic fractionation equilibrium with HD. This value is about an order of magnitude larger than an earlier estimate by Orton et al. based on deconvolution measurements of unresolved molecular emission in the 8-10 micrometers region. Comparison of this new determination with previous studies of CH3D in the outer solar system shows that, as in the case of Uranus, the D/H on Neptune is strongly enhanced over that found on Jupiter and Saturn and is comparable to the D/H in methane on Titan and in terrestrial methane and water.
Chondrules and Ca-Al-rich inclusions (CAIs) are high-temperature components of meteorites that formed during transient heating events in the early Solar System. A major unresolved issue is the relative timing of CAI and chondrule formation. From the presence of chondrule fragments in an igneous CAI, it was concluded that some chondrules formed before CAIs (ref. 5). This conclusion is contrary to the presence of relict CAIs inside chondrules, as well as to the higher abundance of 26Al in CAIs; both observations indicate that CAIs pre-date chondrules by 1-3 million years (Myr). Here we report that relict chondrule material in the Allende meteorite, composed of olivine and low-calcium pyroxene, occurs in the outer portions of two CAIs and is 16O-poor (Delta17O approximately -1 per thousand to -5 per thousand). Spinel and diopside in the CAI cores are 16O-rich (Delta17O up to -20 per thousand), whereas diopside in their outer zones, as well as melilite and anorthite, are 16O-depleted (Delta17O = -8 per thousand to 2 per thousand). Both chondrule-bearing CAIs are 26Al-poor with initial 26Al/27Al ratios of (4.7 +/- 1.4) x 10(-6) and <1.2 x 10(-6). We conclude that these CAIs had chondrule material added to them during a re-melting episode approximately 2 Myr after formation of CAIs with the canonical 26Al/27Al ratio of 5 x 10(-5).
The recent Voyager mission and the simulation experiments in the laboratory suggest that a complex nitrogen-organic chemistry is occuring at the periphery of Titan. Thus, this satellite of Saturn appears as a privileged place in the solar system for the study of extraterrestrial organic chemistry which can be considered as part of Exobiology. Projects of space mission relating to Titan are already under investigation, in particular with the "CASSINI" proposal. The CASSINI project is a combination of a Saturn orbiter and a Titan probe mission. Such a mission would allow the first study "in situ" of a complex extraterrestrial organic chemistry in atmospheric phase.
In scalar-tensor theories of gravity, the equation of state of dark energy, w, can become smaller than -1 without violating any energy condition. The value of w today is tied to the level of deviations from general relativity which, in turn, is constrained by solar system and pulsars timing experiments. The conditions on these local constraints for w to be significantly less than -1 are established. It is demonstrated that this requires us to consider theories that differ from the Jordan-Fierz-Brans-Dicke theory and that involve either a steep coupling function or a steep potential. It is also shown how a robust measurement of w could probe scalar-tensor theories.
In this work we show that the gravity Lagrangian at relatively low curvatures in both metric and Palatini formalisms is a bounded function that can only depart from the linearity within the limits defined by well-known functions. We obtain those functions by analyzing a set of inequalities that any theory must satisfy in order to be compatible with laboratory and solar system observational constraints. This result implies that the recently suggested f(R)gravity theories with nonlinear terms that dominate at low curvatures are incompatible with observations and, therefore, cannot represent a valid mechanism to justify the cosmic speedup.
Chondrules, which are the major constituent of chondritic meteorites, are believed to have formed during brief, localized, repetitive melting of dust (probably caused by shock waves) in the protoplanetary disk around the early Sun. The ages of primitive chondrules in chondritic meteorites indicate that their formation started shortly after that of the calcium-aluminium-rich inclusions (4,567.2 +/- 0.7 Myr ago) and lasted for about 3 Myr, which is consistent with the dissipation timescale for protoplanetary disks around young solar-mass stars. Here we report the 207Pb-206Pb ages of chondrules in the metal-rich CB (Bencubbin-like) carbonaceous chondrites Gujba (4,562.7 +/- 0.5 Myr) and Hammadah al Hamra 237 (4,562.8 +/- 0.9 Myr), which formed during a single-stage, highly energetic event. Both the relatively young ages and the single-stage formation of the CB chondrules are inconsistent with formation during a nebular shock wave. We conclude that chondrules and metal grains in the CB chondrites formed from a vapour-melt plume produced by a giant impact between planetary embryos after dust in the protoplanetary disk had largely dissipated. These findings therefore provide evidence for planet-sized objects in the earliest asteroid belt, as required by current numerical simulations of planet formation in the inner Solar System.
Planetary formation theories suggest that the giant planets formed on circular and coplanar orbits. The eccentricities of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus, however, reach values of 6 per cent, 9 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively. In addition, the inclinations of the orbital planes of Saturn, Uranus and Neptune take maximum values of approximately 2 degrees with respect to the mean orbital plane of Jupiter. Existing models for the excitation of the eccentricity of extrasolar giant planets have not been successfully applied to the Solar System. Here we show that a planetary system with initial quasi-circular, coplanar orbits would have evolved to the current orbital configuration, provided that Jupiter and Saturn crossed their 1:2 orbital resonance. We show that this resonance crossing could have occurred as the giant planets migrated owing to their interaction with a disk of planetesimals. Our model reproduces all the important characteristics of the giant planets' orbits, namely their final semimajor axes, eccentricities and mutual inclinations.
The origin of the spin-axis orientations (obliquities) of the giant planets is a fundamental issue because if the obliquities resulted from tangential collisions with primordial Earth-sized protoplanets, then they are related to the masses of the largest planetesimals out of which the planets form. A problem with this mechanism, however, is that the orbital planes of regular satellites would probably be uncorrelated with the obliquities, contrary to observations. Alternatively, they could have come from an external twist that affected the orientation of the Solar System plane; but in this model, the outer planets must have formed too rapidly, before the event that produced the twist. Moreover, the model cannot be quantitatively tested. Here I show that the present obliquities of the giant planets were probably achieved when Jupiter and Saturn crossed the 1:2 orbital resonance during a specific migration process: different migration scenarios cannot account for the large observed obliquities. The existence of the regular satellites of the giant planets does not represent a problem in this model because, although they formed soon after the planetary formation, they can follow the slow evolution of the equatorial plane it produces.
Our planetary system is embedded in a small-body disk of asteroids and comets, vestigial remnants of the original planetesimal population that formed the planets. Once formed, those planets dispersed most of the remaining small bodies. Outside of Neptune, this process has left our Kuiper belt and built the Oort cloud, as well as emplacing comets into several other identifiable structures. The orbits in these structures indicate that our outer solar system's comet disk was shaped by a variety of different physical processes, which teach us about how the giant planets formed. Recent work has shown that the scattered disk is the most likely source of short-period comets. Moreover, a growing body of evidence indicates that the sculpting of the Kuiper belt region may have involved large-scale planetary migration, the presence of other rogue planetary objects in the disk, and/or the close passage of other stars in the Sun's birth cluster.