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At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

PubMed2003

Samples of stars beyond the solar system: silicate grains in interplanetary dust.

We have identified six circumstellar silicate grains within interplanetary dust particles (IDPs). Their extrasolar origins are demonstrated by their extremely anomalous oxygen isotopic compositions. Three 17O-rich grains appear to originate from red giant or asymptotic giant branch stars. One 16O-rich grain may be from a metal-poor star. Two 16O-poor grains have unknown stellar sources. One of the grains is forsterite, and two are amorphous silicate "GEMS" (glass with embedded metal and sulfides), which is consistent with astronomical identifications of crystalline and amorphous silicates in the outflows of evolved stars. These observations suggest cometary origins of these IDPs and underscore the perplexing absence of silicates among circumstellar dust grains from meteorites.

Astronomical Phenomena↗

PubMed1984

Revised planetary protection policy for solar system exploration.

In order to control contamination of planets by terrestrial microorganisms and organic constituents, U.S. planetary missions have been governed by a planetary protection (or planetary quarantine) policy which has changed little since 1972. This policy has recently been reviewed in light of new information obtained from planetary exploration during the past decade and because of changes to, or uncertainties in, some parameters used in the existing quantitative approach. On the basis of this analysis, a revised planetary protection policy with the following key features is proposed: deemphasizing the use of mathematical models and quantitative analyses; establishing requirements for target planet/mission type (i.e., orbiter, lander, etc.) combinations; considering sample return missions a separate category; simplifying documentation; and imposing implementing procedures (i.e., trajectory biasing, cleanroom assembly, spacecraft sterilization, etc.) by exception, i.e., only if the planet/mission combination warrants such controls.

Containment of Biohazards↗

PubMed2006

Early inner solar system impactors: physical properties of comet nuclei and dust particles revisited.

During the epoch of early bombardment, terrestrial planets have been heavily impacted by cometary nuclei and cometary dust particles progressively injected in the interplanetary medium. Stardust and Deep Impact missions confirm that the nuclei are porous, loosely consolidated objects, with densities below 1,000 kg m(-3), and that they often release small fragments of ices and dust. Recent numerical simulations of the light scattering properties of cometary dust particles indicate that they are highly porous, most likely fractal, and rich in absorbing organics compounds (with a mixture ratio of e.g. 33 to 60% in mass for comet Hale-Bopp). Taking into account the fact that porous structures survive more easily than compact ones during atmospheric entry, such results reinforce the scenario of the early terrestrial planets enrichment--in organics needed for life to originate--by comets.

Cosmic Dust↗

PubMed1999

Interiors of giant planets inside and outside the solar system.

An understanding of the structure and composition of the giant planets is rapidly evolving because of (i) high-pressure experiments with the ability to study metallic hydrogen and define the properties of its equation of state and (ii) spectroscopic and in situ measurements made by telescopes and satellites that allow an accurate determination of the chemical composition of the deep atmospheres of the giant planets. However, the total amount of heavy elements that Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune contain remains poorly constrained. The discovery of extrasolar giant planets with masses ranging from that of Saturn to a few times the mass of Jupiter opens up new possibilities for understanding planet composition and formation. Evolutionary models predict that gaseous extrasolar giant planets should have a variety of atmospheric temperatures and chemical compositions, but the radii are estimated to be close to that of Jupiter (between 0.9 and 1.7 Jupiter radii), provided that they contain mostly hydrogen and helium.

Astronomical Phenomena↗

PubMed1996

Crystallization of amorphous water ice in the solar system.

Electron diffraction studies of vapor-deposited water ice have characterized the dynamical structural changes during crystallization that affect volatile retention in cometary materials. Crystallization is found to occur by nucleation of small domains, while leaving a significant part of the amorphous material in a slightly more relaxed amorphous state that coexists metastably with cubic crystalline ice. The onset of the amorphous relaxation is prior to crystallization and coincides with the glass transition. Above the glass transition temperature, the crystallization kinetics are consistent with the amorphous solid becoming a "strong" viscous liquid. The amorphous component can effectively retain volatiles during crystallization if the volatile concentration is approximately 10% or less. For higher initial impurity concentrations, a significant amount of impurities is released during crystallization, probably because the impurities are trapped on the surfaces of micropores. A model for crystallization over long timescales is described that can be applied to a wide range of impure water ices under typical astrophysical conditions if the fragility factor D, which describes the viscosity behavior, can be estimated.

Astronomical Phenomena↗

PubMed1999

Life in the solar system.

Life, defined as a chemical system capable of transferring its molecular information via self-replication and also capable of evolving, must develop within a liquid to take advantage of the diffusion of complex molecules. On Earth, life probably originated from the evolution of reduced organic molecules in liquid water. Organic matter might have been formed in the primitive Earth's atmosphere or near hydrothermal vents. A large fraction of prebiotic organic molecules might have been brought by extraterrestrial-meteoritic and cometary dust grains decelerated by the atmosphere. Any celestial body harboring permanent liquid water may therefore accumulate the ingredients that generated life on the primitive Earth. The possibility that life might have evolved on early Mars when water existed on the surface marks it as a prime candidate in a search for bacterial life beyond the Earth. Europa has an icy carapace. However, cryovolcanic flows at the surface point to a possible water subsurface region which might harbor a basic life form. The atmosphere and surface components of Titan are also of interest to exobiology for insight into a hydrocarbon-rich chemically evolving world. One-handed complex molecules and preferential isotopic fractionation of carbon, common to all terrestrial life forms, can be used as basic indicators when searching for life beyond the Earth.

Amino Acids↗

PubMed1997

Analogs of the early solar system.

Within the last few decades, the existence of protoplanetary disks has been inferred on the basis of emission from T Tauri stars that does not arise from a stellar photosphere. More recently, high-resolution interferometric techniques have resolved the dust continuum emission, and millimeter arrays have imaged circumstellar molecular gas. These measurements corroborate the disk interpretation; many T Tauri stars are surrounded by centrifugally supported circumstellar disks with radial sizes of order 100 AU. Further proof issues from Hubble Space Telescope images of disks that are illuminated externally. The morphology of circumstellar dust is revealed in striking detail and affirms the prevalence and dimensions of disks imaged at longer wavelengths. The fate of circumstellar material around young stars must be understood in order to discern the degree to which these disks are proto-planetary. Observational studies of circumstellar disks which are in the beginning of a dispersal phase are challenging and place great demands on astronomical techniques. Nevertheless, the connection between disks and the formation of extra-solar planets is supported by increasing circumstantial evidence. Optically thin dust continuum emission persists in T Tauri stars and is detected around some young main sequence stars. Since the dust is subject to rapid dispersal by radiation pressure and Poynting-Robertson drag, some mechanism of replenishment is required. Disks around nearby young main sequence stars show evidence for inner voids and disk asymmetries that should also disappear on short timescales. The presence of large orbiting bodies which collide and interact with the resulting debris can explain both the persistence of optically thin dust and the maintenance of otherwise-ephemeral dynamical features. Together with recent detections of extra-solar planets, these observations lend some support to the hypothesis that circumstellar disks commonly give birth to planetary systems.

Astronomy↗

PubMed1994

The search for other planets: clues from the solar system.

Studies of element abundances and values of D/H in the atmospheres of the outer planets and Titan support a two-step model for the formation of these bodies. This model suggests that the dimensions of Uranus provide a good index for the sensitivity required to detect planets around other stars. The high proportion of N2 on the surfaces of Pluto and Triton indicates that this gas was the dominant reservoir of nitrogen in the early solar nebula. It should also be abundant on pristine comets. There is evidence that some of these comets may well have brought a large store of volatiles to the inner planets, while others were falling into the sun. In other systems, icy planetesimals falling into stars should reveal themselves through high values of D/H.

Astronomical Phenomena↗

PubMed2005

Volatile fractionation in the early solar system and chondrule/matrix complementarity.

Bulk chondritic meteorites and terrestrial planets show a monotonic depletion in moderately volatile and volatile elements relative to the Sun's photosphere and CI carbonaceous chondrites. Although volatile depletion was the most fundamental chemical process affecting the inner solar nebula, debate continues as to its cause. Carbonaceous chondrites are the most primitive rocks available to us, and fine-grained, volatile-rich matrix is the most primitive component in these rocks. Several volatile depletion models posit a pristine matrix, with uniform CI-like chemistry across the different chondrite groups. To understand the nature of volatile fractionation, we studied minor and trace element abundances in fine-grained matrices of a variety of carbonaceous chondrites. We find that matrix trace element abundances are characteristic for a given chondrite group; they are depleted relative to CI chondrites, but are enriched relative to bulk compositions of their parent meteorites, particularly in volatile siderophile and chalcophile elements. This enrichment produces a highly nonmonotonic trace element pattern that requires a complementary depletion in chondrule compositions to achieve a monotonic bulk. We infer that carbonaceous chondrite matrices are not pristine: they formed from a material reservoir that was already depleted in volatile and moderately volatile elements. Additional thermal processing occurred during chondrule formation, with exchange of volatile siderophile and chalcophile elements between chondrules and matrix. This chemical complementarity shows that these chondritic components formed in the same nebula region.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2004

Mass-independent isotope effect in the earliest processed solids in the solar system: a possible chemical mechanism.

A major constraint is described for a possible chemical origin for the "mass-independent" oxygen isotope phenomenon in calcium-aluminum rich inclusions (CAIs) in meteorites at high temperatures ( approximately 1500-2000 K). A symmetry-based dynamical eta effect is postulated for O atom-monoxide recombination on the surface of growing CAIs. It is the surface analog of the volume-based eta effect occurring in a similar phenomenon for ozone in the gas phase [Y. Q. Gao, W. C. Chen, and R. A. Marcus, J. Chem. Phys. 117, 1536 (2002), and references cited therein]: In the growth of CAI grains an equilibrium is postulated between adsorbed species XO (ads)+O (ads) <==>XO*(2)(ads), where XO*(2)(ads) is a vibrationally excited adsorbed dioxide molecule and X can be Si, Al, Ti, or other metals and can be C for minerals less refractory than the CAIs. The surface of a growing grain has an entropic effect of many order of magnitude on the position of this monoxide-dioxide equilibrium relative to its volume-based position by acting as a concentrator. The volume-based eta effect for ozone in the earlier study is not applicable to gas phase precursors of CAIs, due to the rarity of three-body recombination collisions at very low pressures and because of the high H(2) and H concentration in solar gas, which reduces gaseous O and gaseous dioxides and prevents the latter from acting as storage reservoirs for the two heavier oxygen isotopes. A surface eta effect yields XO*(2)(ads) that is mass-independently rich in (17)O and (18)O, and yields XO (ads)+O (ads) that is mass-independently poor in the two heavier oxygen isotopes. When the XO*(2)(ads) is deactivated by vibrational energy loss to the grain, it has only one subsequent fate, evaporation, and so undergoes no further isotopic fractionation. After evaporation the XO(2) again has only one fate, which is to react rapidly with H and ultimately form (16)O-poor H(2)O. The other species, O (ads)+XO (ads), are (16)O rich and react with Ca (ads) and other adsorbed metal atoms or metallic monoxides to form CAIs. The latter are thereby mass-independently poor in (17)O and (18)O. Some O (ads) used to form the minerals are necessarily in excess of the XO (ads), because of the stoichiometry of the mineral, and modify the fractionation pattern. This effect is incorporated into the mechanistic and mathematical scheme. A merit of this chemical mechanism for the oxygen isotope anomaly is that only one oxygen reservoir is required in the solar nebula. It also does not require a sequestering of intermediate products which could undergo isotopic exchange, hence undoing the original isotopic fractionations. The gas phase source of adsorbed O atoms in this environment is either O or H(2)O. As inferred from data on the evaporation of Mg(2)SiO(4) taken as an example, the source of O (ads) is primarily H(2)O rather than O and is accompanied by the evolution of H(2). Nonisotopic kinetic experiments can determine more sharply the mechanism of condensed phase growth of these minerals. Laboratory tests are proposed to test the existence of a surface eta effect on the growing CAI surfaces at these high temperatures.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1967