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Interstellar Dust and the Organic Inventories of Early Solar Systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2017

D. C. B. Whittet
D. C. B. Whittet*
Affiliation:
New York Center for Studies of the Origins of Life, and Department of Physics & Astronomy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180, U.S.A.

Abstract

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Interstellar dust grains are vectors for cosmic carbon and other biogenic chemical elements. They deliver carbon to protoplanetary disks in various refractory phases (amorphous, graphitic, etc.), and they are coated with icy mantles that contain organic molecules and water. The nature of the organics present in and on the dust appears to be closely related to physical conditions. Complex molecules may be synthesized when simple ices are irradiated. Astronomical observations show that this occurs in the vicinity of certain massive protostars, but it is not known whether our Solar System formed in such a region. Organic matter does not survive cycling though diffuse regions of interstellar space; any organics delivered to the early Earth must have originated in the parent molecular cloud, or in the solar nebula itself. A key question is thus identified: What was the star-formation environment of the Solar System? Possible constraints are briefly discussed.

Type
Astrochemistry
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 213: Bioastronomy 2002: Life Among the stars , 2004 , pp. 163 - 168
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2004 

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