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In the early years of planet Earth, when our world was still forming, icy comets were essential sources of carbon that may have jumpstarted life, according to a new study.
Astronomers at the University of Minnesota used infrared observations of Comet Catalina as it ventured into the Inner Solar System in 2016 in an effort to better understand the makeup of these icy visitors and their role in the development of the earth.
The team was able to detect significant amounts of carbon – a chemical essential to life as we know it – in the tail of the comet.
The rocky planets were probably too hot in their early days to trap enough carbon for life to begin, so they had to get the building blocks of life from somewhere.
“Carbon-rich comets could have been an important source providing this essential element that led to life as we know it,” says study author Charles Woodward.
This illustration of an Oort Cloud comet as it traverses the inner solar system with dust and gas evaporating in its tail shows how these icy visitors were able to deliver carbon to hot, early rocky worlds like the Earth.
The carbon-rich Comet Catalina was first discovered in 2013 on its last and first trip through the Inner Solar System.
In early 2016, Comet Catalina entered the inner solar system from the Oort cloud, a region at the very edge of the solar system where comets are born.
It briefly became visible to astronomers on Earth before passing in front of the sun to disappear forever from the solar system and into interstellar space.
Among the many observatories that captured a view of this comet, which appeared near the Big Dipper, was the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), NASA’s telescope on an airplane.
Using one of its unique infrared instruments, SOFIA was able to spot a familiar fingerprint in the dusty glow of the comet’s tail – carbon.
The discovery helps planetary scientists to further explain the origins of life on Earth, as it “ becomes apparent like comets like Catalina could have been a critical source of carbon ” during the early formation of the solar system, explained the ‘team.
Using the new results from SOFIA, which is a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center, the U.S. team was able to better understand the impact these comets may have had billions of years ago when planets like Earth and Mars began to form.
Comet Catalina and others of this type have orbits so long that they arrive at our Heavenly Gate relatively unchanged.
This effectively makes them frozen in time – with roughly the same material found in the early days of the solar system when planets were starting to form in the world they are today.
This “time capsule” offers researchers rare opportunities to learn more about the earliest solar systems they came from and how our own planet was formed.
NASA was able to observe the icy visitor using infrared cameras, allowing astronomers to get a clearer picture of his makeup – finding a carbon-rich tail
SOFIA’s infrared observations were able to capture the composition of dust and gas as it evaporated from the comet, forming its tail.
Observations showed that Comet Catalina is high in carbon, suggesting that it formed in the outer regions of the primordial solar system, which contained a reservoir of carbon that may have been important for seeding life on Earth, Mars and Venus.
Although carbon is a key ingredient in life, it cannot survive over time in a very hot world.
The early Earth and the other terrestrial planets in the inner solar system were so hot during their formation that elements like carbon were lost or depleted.
Infrared observations of the comet helped researchers see that it was high in carbon, which allowed them to theorize that these comets helped seed the hot, rocky ancient Earth.
Comet Catalina was visible through small telescopes or binoculars on January 1, 2016 as it came closest to Earth on its way into interstellar space.
While cooler gas giants like Jupiter and Neptune could support carbon in the outer solar system, Jupiter’s giant size may have gravitatively blocked the carbon from mixing into the inner solar system.
This prompted the US team to study how the rocky inner planets evolved into the carbon-rich worlds they are today by examining data from the comet.
Researchers believe that a slight change in Jupiter’s orbit allowed small comet precursors to mix carbon from outer regions into inner regions, where it was incorporated into planets like Earth and Mars.
The comets came from the outer edges of the solar system, rich in carbon, were pulled out of their wide orbit by the massive gravitational force of Jupiter, and pushed towards the inner rocky worlds closer to the sun.
The carbon-rich makeup of Comet Catalina helps explain how the planets that formed in the hot, carbon-poor regions of the early solar system evolved into planets with the supporting element of life, the authors said. study.
“All terrestrial worlds are subject to the impacts of comets and other small bodies, which carry carbon and other elements,” added Woodward.
“We are getting closer to the exact understanding of how these impacts on the early planets may have catalyzed life.
Observation of additional new comets is needed to find out if there are many other carbon-rich comets in the Oort Cloud, which would further strengthen the fact that comets provide carbon and other vital elements to terrestrial planets. .
As the largest airborne observatory in the world, SOFIA’s mobility allows it to quickly observe newly discovered comets as they pass through the solar system.
The results of this study were published in the Planetary Science Journal.
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