Phosphorus in cometary volatiles
Abstract
Phosphorus is a key element in all living organisms but its role in life's origin is not well understood. Phosphorous-bearing compounds have been observed in the ISM and other regions of space. They are ubiquitous in meteorites in small quantities, and have been detected as part of the dust component in comets 1P/Halley and 81P/Wild 2, and as atomic P and the PO molecule in the gas phase of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko by the Rosetta Mission (ROSINA instrument). We present results of the first quantitative study of P-bearing molecules in cometary comae to aid in future searches for this important element in comets and likely prebiotic species containing phosphorus. Our gas dynamics model of cometary comae with chemical kinetics has been adapted to study this problem. We have identified reaction pathways of gas-phase and photolytic chemistry for simple phosphorous-bearing molecules likely to be found in comets and important for prebiotic chemistry, possibly shedding light on issues of comet formation and understanding prebiotic to biotic evolution of life since comets may have delivered prebiotic material to the early Earth. Acknowledgments: This work was supported by FAPESP (Brazil) under Grant No. 2015/03176-8 and the National Science Foundation Planetary Astronomy Program (USA) under Grant No. 0908529.
- Publication:
-
43rd COSPAR Scientific Assembly. Held 28 January - 4 February
- Pub Date:
- January 2021
- Bibcode:
- 2021cosp...43E1913B