NASAS Cosmic Ice Laboratory

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NASAS Cosmic Ice Laboratory
March 28, 2008 St. Petersburg Astronomy Club
Reggie L. Hudson Eckerd College
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NASA Centers
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NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
Largest and Oldest
Robert Goddard (1882 - 1945)
COBE, Compton, IUE, Hubble Space Telescope
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Chemistry analysis (meteorites)
Astrochemistry Branch
Chemistry at LOW temperatures
Chemistry at HIGH temperature
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Study the Cold Chemistry of ET Environments
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The Interstellar Medium (ISM)
Hot Stuff
Cold Stuff
3 LY
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Many Molecules Detected
CO
CO2
H2O
H2CO
C2H6
CH3OH
HCOOH
NH3
CH3CN
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Some Important Questions
How to detect molecules (observation) Molecular
formation (explanation) Chemical reactions
(prediction)
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Consider
B68, a dark nebula, 0.5 LY across
Long wavelengths cut through the dust.
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Consider
Long wavelengths cut through the dust.
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Dense Molecular Clouds in the Eagle Nebula
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Courtesy Jason Dworkin
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The Interstellar Medium How to make molecules
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Interstellar Grains as Reaction Sites
0.1 micrometer and T 10 K
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Laboratory Setup 8 K - 100 K 0.8 MeV p
Irradiation Vacuum UV Photolysis (100 - 200 nm)
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NASA Nerds in Action
Scott Sandford (Stardust mission)
Max Bernstein (NASA HQ)
NASA Ames Research Center
Jason Dworkin (Meteoriticist)
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Case History 1 Jupiters Galilean Moons
Launch - 1989
Arrive - 1995
Mission Over - 2003
1.5 billion
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Chemistry and Jupiters Satellites
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Galileo Finds Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2)
H2O2
Europa
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Case History 2 Transneptunian Objects
(Kuiper-Belt Objects, 70,000 est.)
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Measure Nitrogen Spectrum Lab vs. Pluto
Plutos Temperature is 38 - 42 K.
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Case History 3 Molecules in Comets
Comet Hyakutake C2H6 Mumma et al., Science, 1996
p
p
H2O HCCH ? H2CCH2 ? H3C-CH3 Moore
Hudson, Icarus, 1997 1998
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Alcohols too!
Comet Hyakutake and many IS Objects CO, H2CO,
CH3OH
p
p
H2O CO ? H2CO ? H3C-OH Hudson
Moore, Icarus, 1999
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And Cometary Antifreeze Ethylene Glycol
p
H2O CH3OH ? C2H2(OH)2 Hudson Moore,
Icarus, 2000
Discovered in Comet Hale-Bopp in 2004
Discovered in the ISM in 2002
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Case History 4 Interstellar Molecules
Vinyl Alcohol CH2CH(OH) Predicted in 1997
1998 Discovered in the ISM in 2001
Emil Erlenmeyer 1825 1909 Berlin, Germany
Erlenmeyers Rule Vinyl alcohol converts to
acetaldehyde.
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And the First ET Sugar Glycolaldehyde, C2(H2O)2
Discovered in the interstellar medium in 2000
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Astrobiology Connections
Simple Molecules Make Complex Molecules.
X?C?N
Nitriles are found in many places.
Nitriles are implicated in prebiotic chemistry.
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Amino Acid Synthesis
Nitriles ? Amino Acids
?
Glycine
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Amino Acids in Space
Dozens are found in carbonaceous meteorites.
Found in Stardust samples, collected from a comet.
Predicted by both lab work and theory.
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Nitriles make nucleobases (of DNA)
Found in meteorites too
cytosine
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ET Chemical Evolution
Cosmic Ices
Courtesy Jason Dworkin
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Cometary Bombardment and the Earlys Earth
Evolution
http//www.astro.washington.edu/observatory/PastPr
esentations/
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Cosmic Ice Chemistry ...
... and Lifes Origin
Courtesy Jason Dworkin
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Co-Workers and Students
Marla Moore
Zach Posun
Amanda Cook
Jocelyn Cox
Ariel Lewis
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Thanks to friends and colleagues whose slides I
stole!
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