Organics Captured from Comet 81P/Wild 2 by the Stardust Spacecraft

Sandford, Scott A.; Adnot, Jérôme; Alexander, Conel M. O'd.; Araki, Tohru; Bajt, Saša; Baratta, G. A.; Borg, J.; Bradley, J. P.; Brownlee, D. E.; Brucato, J. R.; Burchell, M. J.; Busemann, H.; Butterworth, A. L.; Clemett, S. J.; Cody, George D.; Colangeli, L.; Cooper, George; D'Hendecourt, L.; Djouadi, Z.; Dworkin, Jason P.; Ferrini, G.; Fleckenstein, H.; Flynn, G. J.; Franchi, I. A.; Fries, M.; Gilles, Mary K.; Glavin, Daniel P.; Gounelle, M.; Grossemy, F.; Jacobsen, Chris; Keller, L. P.; Kilcoyne, A. L. D.; Leitner, J.; Matrajt, G.; Meibom, Anders; Mennella, V.; Mostefaoui, S.; Nittler, L. R.; Palumbo, M. E.; Papanastassiou, D. A.; Robert, François; Rotundi, A.; Snead, C. J.; Spencer, Maegan K.; Stadermann, F. J.; Steele, A.; Stephan, T.; Tsou, P.; Tyliszczak, Tolek; Westphal, A. J.; Wirick, S.; Wopenka, B.; Yabuta, Hikaru; Zare, Richard N.; Zolensky, M. E.

doi:10.1126/science.1135841

Cited by 533 publications

(427 citation statements)

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“…Future applications of IR s-SNOM and nanoFTIR may also include distribution studies of individual terrestrial aerosol mixing states, examination of synthetic and natural non-equilibrium solids, and sub-micron identification of hydrated and organic chondrite phases. Furthermore, this technique should be suitable for the analysis of additional returned samples from missions including NASA's Stardust spacecraft 1,2,6 and Hayabusa 61 , as well as interplanetary dust particles and other primitive solar system materials possessing sub-micron heterogeneity 62 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, use of this technique for studying sub-micron scale heterogeneity characteristic of natural samples or individual micron-sized samples such as the cometary dust grains retrieved by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s Stardust mission [1][2][3][4][5][6] is severely hampered by the spatial resolution afforded by the diffraction limit and the wavelength of IR light 7,8 . This limitation rules out direct investigations of both sub-micron samples and sub-micron inclusions in larger heterogeneous samples by conventional Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] .…”

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confidence: 99%

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Nanoscale infrared spectroscopy as a non-destructive probe of extraterrestrial samples

et al. 2014

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Advances in the spatial resolution of modern analytical techniques have tremendously augmented the scientific insight gained from the analysis of natural samples. Yet, while techniques for the elemental and structural characterization of samples have achieved sub-nanometre spatial resolution, infrared spectral mapping of geochemical samples at vibrational 'fingerprint' wavelengths has remained restricted to spatial scales 410 mm. Nevertheless, infrared spectroscopy remains an invaluable contactless probe of chemical structure, details of which offer clues to the formation history of minerals. Here we report on the successful implementation of infrared near-field imaging, spectroscopy and analysis techniques capable of sub-micron scale mineral identification within natural samples, including a chondrule from the Murchison meteorite and a cometary dust grain (Iris) from NASA's Stardust mission. Complementary to scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy probes, this work evidences a similarity between chondritic and cometary materials, and inaugurates a new era of infrared nano-spectroscopy applied to small and invaluable extraterrestrial samples.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Nanoscale infrared spectroscopy as a non-destructive probe of extraterrestrial samples

et al. 2014

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“…Such complex molecules would provide early proto-planetary nebulae with a rich organic inventory similarly to that expected to have occurred in our presolar nebula. Clues that connect the interstellar chemistry to the Solar System can be found in the cometary detection of COMs (Sandford et al 2006) because comets are believed to contain the most pristine material remaining from the presolar nebula. They may have carried prebiotic organic chemistry from the interstellar clouds to the early Earth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Formation of methyl formate after cosmic ion irradiation of icy grain mantles

Modica¹,

Palumbo²

2010

A&A

102

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Context. Methyl formate (HCOOCH 3 ) is a complex organic molecule detected in hot cores and hot corinos. Gas-phase chemistry fails to reproduce its observed abundance, which usually varies between 10 −7 and 10 −9 with respect to H 2 . Aims. Laboratory experiments were performed in order to investigate a solid-state route of methyl formate formation, to obtain an estimate of the amount that can be formed, and to verify whether it can account for the observed abundances. Methods. Several solid samples (16 K) of astrophysical interest were analyzed by infrared spectroscopy in the 4400−400 cm −1 range. The infrared spectral characteristics of frozen methyl formate were studied by deriving their band strength values. The effects produced upon warm-up of the samples were analyzed comparing the spectra taken at different temperatures. In order to study the formation and destruction mechanism of methyl formate in the interstellar ices, a binary mixture of methanol (CH 3 OH) and carbon monoxide (CO) ice and a sample of pure methanol were irradiated at 16 K with 200 keV protons. Methyl formate was identified through its fundamental mode (CH 3 rocking) at about 1160 cm −1 . Results. We present the mid-infrared methyl formate ice spectrum showing both the amorphous (16 K) and the crystalline (110 K) structure. We report novel measurements of the band strength values of the six main methyl formate bands. We prove the formation and the destruction of methyl formate after irradiation of CH 3 OH and a CO:CH 3 OH mixture. Extrapolating our results to the interstellar medium conditions we found that the production timescale of methyl formate agrees well with the evolutionary time of molecular clouds. The comparison with the observational data indicates that the amount of methyl formate formed after irradiation can account for the observed abundances. Conclusions. The present results allow us to suggest that gas phase methyl formate observed in dense molecular clouds is formed in the solid state after cosmic ion irradiation of icy grain mantles containing CO and CH 3 OH and released to the gas phase after desorption of icy mantles.

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“…This is indeed borne out in examinations of Stardust material (Sandford et al 2006). Since 2001 pristine cometary dust was collected aseptically using cryoprobes flown aboard balloons to heights of 41 km (Harris et al 2002;Narlikar et al 2003;Wainwright et al 2004).…”

Section: Microfossils In Cometary Dustmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bacterial morphologies supporting cometary panspermia: a reappraisal

Wickramasinghe

2010

International Journal of Astrobiology

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: It is nearly 30 years since the first decisive evidence of microbial morphologies in carbonaceous chondrites was discovered and reported by Hans Dieter Pflug. In addition to morphology, other data, notably laser mass spectroscopy, served to confirm the identification of such structures as putative bacterial fossils. Recent examinations of cometary dust collected in the stratosphere and further studies of carbonaceous meteorites reaffirm the presence of putative microbial fossils. Since carbonaceous chondrites (particularly Type 1 chondrites) are thought to be extinct comets the data reviewed in this article provide strong support for theories of cometary panspermia.

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Organics Captured from Comet 81P/Wild 2 by the Stardust Spacecraft

Cited by 533 publications

References 23 publications

Nanoscale infrared spectroscopy as a non-destructive probe of extraterrestrial samples

Nanoscale infrared spectroscopy as a non-destructive probe of extraterrestrial samples

Formation of methyl formate after cosmic ion irradiation of icy grain mantles

Bacterial morphologies supporting cometary panspermia: a reappraisal

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