The role of massive AGB stars in the early solar system composition

Organic materials isolated from carbonaceous meteorites provide us with a record of pre-biotic chemistry in the early Solar System. Molecular, isotopic and in situ studies of these materials suggest that a number of extraterrestrial environments have contributed to the inventory of organic matter in the early Solar System including interstellar space, the Solar nebula and meteorite parent bodies.There are several difficulties that have to be overcome in the study of the organic constituents of meteorites. Contamination by terrestrial biogenic organic matter is an ever-present concern and a wide variety of contaminant molecules have been isolated and identified including essential plant oils, derived from either biological sources or common cleaning products, and aliphatic hydrocarbons, most probably derived from petroleum-derived pollutants. Only 25% of the organic matter in carbonaceous chondrites is amenable to extraction with organic solvents; the remainder is present as a complex macromolecular aromatic network that has required the development of analytical approaches that can yield structural and isotopic information on this highly complex material.Stable isotopic studies have been of paramount importance in understanding the origins of meteoritic organic matter and have provided evidence for the incorporation of interstellar molecules within meteoritic material. Extending isotopic studies to the molecular level is yielding new insights into both the sources of meteoritic organic matter and the processes that have modified it.Organic matter in meteorites is intimately associated with silicate minerals and the in situ examination of the relationships between organic and inorganic components is crucial to our understanding of the role of asteroidal processes in the modification of organic matter and, in particular, the role of water as both a solvent and a reactant on meteorite parent bodies.

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Physical conditions in the early Solar system and life origin: compatible models

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s1743921319001960 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 14 (S345) ◽

pp. 347-348

Author(s):

Mariya Ragulskaya ◽

Elizaveta Khramova ◽

Vladimir Obridko

Keyword(s):

Solar System ◽

Living Systems ◽

Early Solar System ◽

Physical Conditions ◽

Long Term Storage ◽

Adaptive Technologies ◽

Term Storage ◽

Selection Of

AbstractThe article discusses the physical conditions in the early Solar system and on Earth, determining the origin, selection and development of the first living systems. The role of the young Sun dynamics, cosmic rays, magnetic fields and other protective shells of the Earth in the formation of the biosphere is emphasized. The selection of a single genetic code, ancient methods of long-term storage of energy and adaptive technologies of the first living systems occurred under the influence of cosmological and geophysical factors. A hypothesis was suggested that the accumulation of energy in polyphosphates without the participation of solar radiation could have ensured the survival of the primary biosphere in the conditions of the low luminosity of the young Sun.

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The search for and analysis of direct samples of early Solar System aqueous fluids

Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences ◽

10.1098/rsta.2015.0386 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 375 (2094) ◽

pp. 20150386 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Michael E. Zolensky ◽

Robert J. Bodnar ◽

Hisayoshi Yurimoto ◽

Shoichi Itoh ◽

Marc Fries ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Solar System ◽

Fluid Inclusions ◽

State Of The Art ◽

Analytical Techniques ◽

Real Data ◽

Aqueous Fluid ◽

Early Solar System ◽

Solid Materials ◽

Current State

We describe the current state of the search for direct, surviving samples of early, inner Solar System fluids—fluid inclusions in meteorites. Meteoritic aqueous fluid inclusions are not rare, but they are very tiny and their characterization is at the state of the art for most analytical techniques. Meteoritic fluid inclusions offer us a unique opportunity to study early Solar System brines in the laboratory. Inclusion-by-inclusion analyses of the trapped fluids in carefully selected samples will, in the immediate future, provide us detailed information on the evolution of fluids as they interacted with anhydrous solid materials. Thus, real data can replace calculated fluid compositions in thermochemical calculations of the evolution of water and aqueous reactions in comets, asteroids, moons and the terrestrial planets. This article is part of the themed issue ‘The origin, history and role of water in the evolution of the inner Solar System’.

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Short-lived p-nuclides in the early solar system and implications on the nucleosynthetic role of X-ray binaries

Nuclear Physics A ◽

10.1016/s0375-9474(03)00934-5 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 719 ◽

pp. C287-C295 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

N. Dauphas ◽

T. Rauscher ◽

B. Marty ◽

L. Reisberg

Keyword(s):

Solar System ◽

Early Solar System ◽

X Ray ◽

X Ray Binaries

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Laboratory and in-situ analysis of comet dust

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100102122 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 46 ◽

pp. 8-9

Author(s):

D.E. Brownlee ◽

A.L. Albee

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscopy ◽

Solar System ◽

Laboratory Study ◽

Isotopic Analysis ◽

Building Blocks ◽

Sem Analysis ◽

Early Solar System ◽

Cometary Material ◽

Comet Dust

Comets are primitive, kilometer-sized bodies that formed in the outer regions of the solar system. Composed of ice and dust, comets are generally believed to be relic building blocks of the outer solar system that have been preserved at cryogenic temperatures since the formation of the Sun and planets. The analysis of cometary material is particularly important because the properties of cometary material provide direct information on the processes and environments that formed and influenced solid matter both in the early solar system and in the interstellar environments that preceded it.The first direct analyses of proven comet dust were made during the Soviet and European spacecraft encounters with Comet Halley in 1986. These missions carried time-of-flight mass spectrometers that measured mass spectra of individual micron and smaller particles. The Halley measurements were semi-quantitative but they showed that comet dust is a complex fine-grained mixture of silicates and organic material. A full understanding of comet dust will require detailed morphological, mineralogical, elemental and isotopic analysis at the finest possible scale. Electron microscopy and related microbeam techniques will play key roles in the analysis. The present and future of electron microscopy of comet samples involves laboratory study of micrometeorites collected in the stratosphere, in-situ SEM analysis of particles collected at a comet and laboratory study of samples collected from a comet and returned to the Earth for detailed study.

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