首页 | 本学科首页   官方微博 | 高级检索  
相似文献
 共查询到20条相似文献，搜索用时 31 毫秒
1.
  相似文献   

2.
M.H. Moore  R.L. Hudson 《Icarus》2003,161(2):486-500
Infrared spectra and radiation chemical behavior of N2-dominated ices relevant to the surfaces of Triton and Pluto are presented. This is the first systematic IR study of proton-irradiated N2-rich ices containing CH4 and CO. Experiments at 12 K show that HCN, HNC, and diazomethane (CH2N2) form in the solid phase, along with several radicals. NH3 is also identified in irradiated N2 + CH4 and N2 + CH4 + CO. We show that HCN and HNC are made in irradiated binary ice mixtures having initial N2/CH4 ratios from 100 to 4, and in three-component mixtures have an initial N2/(CH4 + CO) ratio of 50. HCN and HNC are not detected in N2-dominated ices when CH4 is replaced with C2H6, C2H2, or CH3OH.The intrinsic band strengths of HCN and HNC are measured and used to calculate G(HCN) and G(HNC) in irradiated N2 + CH4 and N2 + CH4 + CO ices. In addition, the HNC/HCN ratio is calculated to be ∼1 in both icy mixtures. These radiolysis results reveal, for the first time, solid-phase synthesis of both HCN and HNC in N2-rich ices containing CH4.We examine the evolution of spectral features due to acid-base reactions (acids such as HCN, HNC, and HNCO and a base, NH3) triggered by warming irradiated ices from 12 K to 30-35 K. We identify anions (OCN−, CN−, and N3−) in ices warmed to 35 K. These ions are expected to form and survive on the surfaces of Triton and Pluto. Our results have astrobiological implications since many of these products (HCN, HNC, HNCO, NH3, NH4OCN, and NH4CN) are involved in the syntheses of biomolecules such as amino acids and polypeptides.  相似文献   

3.
W.M. GrundyM.W. Buie 《Icarus》2002,157(1):128-138
We present four new near-infrared spectra of Pluto, measured separately from its satellite Charon during four HST/NICMOS observations in 1998, timed to sample four evenly spaced longitudes on Pluto. Being free of contamination by telluric absorptions or by Charon light, the new data are particularly valuable for studies of Pluto's continuum absorption. Previous studies of the major volatile species indicate the existence of at least three distinct terrains on Pluto's surface: N2-rich, CH4-rich, and volatile-depleted. The new data provide evidence that each of these three terrains has distinct near-infrared continuum absorption features. CH4-rich regions appear to show reddish continuum absorption through the near-infrared spectral range. N2-rich regions have very little continuum absorption. Visually dark, volatile-depleted regions exhibit intermediate continuum albedos with a bluish continuum slope. By analogy with Triton, we expected that careful spectral modeling would reveal strong evidence for the existence of H2O ice on Pluto's surface, but we found only very weak evidence for its existence in the volatile-depleted regions. These data require H2O ice to play a much less prominent role on Pluto's surface than it does on Triton's.  相似文献   

4.
This report arises from an ongoing program to monitor Neptune’s largest moon Triton spectroscopically in the 0.8 to 2.4 μm range using IRTF/SpeX. Our objective is to search for changes on Triton’s surface as witnessed by changes in the infrared absorption bands of its surface ices N2,CH4,H2O, CO, and CO2. We have recorded infrared spectra of Triton on 53 nights over the ten apparitions from 2000 to 2009. The data generally confirm our previously reported diurnal spectral variations of the ice absorption bands (Grundy and Young, 2004). Nitrogen ice shows a large amplitude variation, with much stronger absorption on Triton’s Neptune-facing hemisphere. We present evidence for seasonal evolution of Triton’s N2 ice: the 2.15 μm absorption band appears to be diminishing, especially on the Neptune-facing hemisphere. Although it is mostly dissolved in N2 ice, Triton’s CH4 ice shows a very different longitudinal variation from the N2 ice, challenging assumptions of how the two ices behave. Unlike Triton’s CH4 ice, the CO ice does exhibit longitudinal variation very similar to the N2 ice, implying that CO and N2 condense and sublimate together, maintaining a consistent mixing ratio. Absorptions by H2O and CO2 ices show negligible variation as Triton rotates, implying very uniform and/or high latitude spatial distributions for those two non-volatile ices.  相似文献   

5.
The Kuiper Belt zone is unique insofar as the major heat sources of objects a few tens of kilometers in size—solar radiation on the one hand and radioactive decay on the other—have comparable power. This leads to unique evolutionary patterns, with heat waves propagating inward from the irradiated surface and outward from the radioactively heated interior. A major radioactive source that is considered in this study is 26Al. The long-term evolution of several models with characteristics typical of Kuiper Belt objects is followed by means of a 1-D numerical code that solves the heat and mass balance equations on a spherically symmetric grid. The free parameters considered are radius (10-500 km), heliocentric distance (30-120 AU), and initial 26Al content (0-5×10−8 by mass). The initial composition assumed is a porous mixture of ices (H2O, CO, and CO2) and dust. Gases released in the interior are allowed to escape to the surface. It is shown that, depending on parameters, the interior may reach quite high temperatures (up to 180 K). The models suggest that Kuiper Belt objects are likely to lose the ices of very volatile species during early evolution; ices of less volatile species are retained in a surface layer, about 1 km thick. The models indicate that the amorphous ice crystallizes in the interior, and hence some objects may also lose part of the volatiles trapped in amorphous ice. Generally, the outer layers are far less affected than the inner part, resulting in a stratified composition and altered porosity distribution. These changes in structure and composition should have significant consequences for the short-period comets, which are believed to be descendants of Kuiper Belt objects.  相似文献   

6.
Experimental results on the spectral identification of new infrared absorption features and the changes of their absorbances produced through vacuum ultraviolet-extreme ultraviolet (VUV-EUV) photon-induced chemical reactions in the C2H2-H2O mixed ices at 10 K are obtained. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that EUV photons have been employed in the study of the photolysis of ice analogues. Two different compositions, i.e., C2H2:H2O=1:4 and 1:1, were investigated in this work. A tunable intense synchrotron radiation light source available at the Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu, Taiwan, was employed to provide the required VUV-EUV photons. In this study, the photon wavelengths selected to irradiate the icy samples corresponded to the prominent solar hydrogen, helium, and helium ion lines at 121.6 nm, 58.4 nm, and 30.4 nm, respectively. The photon dosages used were typically in the range of 1×1015 to 2×1017 photons. Molecular species produced and identified in the ice samples at 10 K resulting from VUV-EUV photon irradiation are mainly CO, CO2, CH4, C2H6, CH3OH, and H2CO. In addition to several unidentified features, we have tentatively assigned several absorption features to HCO, C3H8, and C2H5OH. While new molecular species were formed, the original reactants, i.e., H2O and C2H2, were detectably depleted due to their conversion to other species. The new chemical species produced by irradiation of photons at 30.4 nm and 58.4 nm can be different from those produced by the 121.6-nm photolysis. In general, the product column density of CO reaches saturation at a lower photon dosage than that of CO2. Furthermore, the production yield of CO is higher than that of CO2 in the photon irradiation. In the present study, we also observe that the photon-induced chemical reaction yields are high using photons at 30.4 and 58.4 nm. The results presented in this work are essential to our understanding of chemical synthesis in ice analogues, e.g., the cometary-type ices and icy satellites of planetary systems.  相似文献   

7.
We report photochemical studies of thin cryogenic ice films composed of N2, CH4 and CO in ratios analogous to those on the surfaces of Neptune’s largest satellite, Triton, and on Pluto. Experiments were performed using a hydrogen discharge lamp, which provides an intense source of ultraviolet light to simulate the sunlight-induced photochemistry on these icy bodies. Characterization via infrared spectroscopy showed that C2H6 and C2H2, and HCO are formed by the dissociation of CH4 into H, CH2 and CH3 and the subsequent reaction of these radicals within the ice. Other radical species, such as C2, , CN, and CNN, are observed in the visible and ultraviolet regions of the spectrum. These species imply a rich chemistry based on formation of radicals from methane and their subsequent reaction with the N2 matrix. We discuss the implications of the formation of these radicals for the chemical evolution of Triton and Pluto. Ultimately, this work suggests that , CN, HCO, and CNN may be found in significant quantities on the surfaces of Triton and Pluto and that new observations of these objects in the appropriate wavelength regions are warranted.  相似文献   

8.
Experimental results on fast ion collision with icy surfaces having astrophysical interest are presented. 252Cf fission fragments projectiles were used to induce ejection of ionized material from H2O, CO2, CO, NH3, N2, O2 and Ar ices; the secondary ions were identified by time-of-flight mass spectrometry. It is observed that all the bombarded frozen gas targets emit cluster ions which have the structure XnR±, where X is the neutral ice molecule and R± is either an atomic or a molecular ion. The shape of the positive or negative ion mass spectra is characterized by a decreasing yield as the emitted ion mass increases and is generally described by the sum of two exponential functions. The positive ion water ice spectrum is dominated by the series (H2O)nH3O+ and the negative ion spectrum by the series (H2O)nOH− and (H2O)nO−. The positive ion CO2 ice spectrum is characterized by R+ = C+, O+, CO+, O2+ or CO2+ and the negative one by R− = CO3−. The dominant series for ammonia ice correspond to R+ = NH4+ and to R− = NH2−. The oxygen series are better described by (O3)nOm+ secondary ions where m = 1, 2 or 3. Two positive ion series exist for N2 ice: (N2)nN2+ and (N2)nN+. For argon positive secondary ions, only the (Ar)nAr+ series was observed. Most of the detected molecular ions were formed by one-step reactions. Ice temperature was varied from ∼20 K to complete sublimation.  相似文献   

9.
We suggest that Pluto and Charon are immersed in a tenuous dust cloud. The cloud consists of ejecta from Pluto and—especially—Charon, released from their surfaces by impacts of micrometeoroids originating from Edgeworth-Kuiper belt objects. The motion of the ejected grains is dominated by the gravity of Pluto and Charon, which determines a pear-shape of the densest part of the cloud. While the production rates of escaping particles from both sides are comparable, the lifetimes of the Charon particles inside the Hill sphere of Pluto-Charon with respect to the Sun are much longer than of the Pluto ejecta, so that the cloud is composed predominantly of Charon grains. The dust cloud is dense enough to be detected with an in situ dust detector onboard a future space mission to Pluto. The cloud's maximum optical depth of τ≈3×10−11 is, however, too low to allow remote sensing observations.  相似文献   

10.
L. Trafton 《Icarus》1980,44(1):53-61
The presence of CH4 ice on Pluto implies that Pluto may have a substantial atmosphere consisting of heavy gases. Without such an atmosphere, sublimation of the CH4 ice would be so rapid on a cosmogonic time scale that either such an atmosphere would soon develop through the exposure of gases trapped in the CH4 ice or else the surface CH4 ice would soon be all sublimated away as other, more stable, ices became exposed. If such stable ices were present from the beginning, the existence of CH4 frosts would also imply that Pluto's present atmosphere contains a remnant of its primordial atmosphere.  相似文献   

11.
Visible-range absorption bands at 600–750 nm were recently detected on two Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt (EKB) objects (Boehnhardt et al., 2002). Most probably the spectral features may be attributed to hydrated silicates originated in the bodies. We consider possibilities for silicate dressing and silicate aqueous alteration within them. According to present models of the protoplanetary disk, the temperatures and pressures at the EKB distances (30–50 AU) at the time of formation of the EKB objects (106 to 108 yr) were very low (15–30 K and 10-9–10-10 bar). At these thermodynamic conditions all volatiles excluding hydrogen, helium and neon were in the solid state. An initial mass fraction of silicates (silicates/(ices + dust)) in EKB parent bodies may be estimated as 0.15–0.30. Decay of the short-lived 26Al in the bodies at the early stage of their evolution and their mutual collisions (at velocities ≥1.5 km s-1) at the subsequent stage were probably two main sources of their heating, sufficient for melting of water ice. Because of the former process, large EKB bodies (R ≥ 100 km) could contain a large amount of liquid water in their interiors for the period of a few 106 yr. Freezing of the internal ocean might have begun at ≈ 5 × 106 yr after formation of the solar nebula (and CAIs). As a result, aqueous alteration of silicates in the bodies could occur. A probable mechanism of silicate dressing was sedimentation of silicates with refractory organics, resulting in accumulation of large silicate-rich cores. Crushing and removing icy covers under collisions and exposing EKB bodies' interiors with increased silicate content could facilitate detection of phyllosilicate spectral features.  相似文献   

12.
C.B Olkin  L.H Wasserman  O.G Franz 《Icarus》2003,164(1):254-259
The mass ratio of Charon to Pluto is a basic parameter describing the binary system and is necessary for determining the individual masses and densities of these two bodies. Previous measurements of the mass ratio have been made, but the solutions differ significantly (Null et al., 1993; Young et al., 1994; Null and Owen, 1996; Foust et al., 1997; Tholen and Buie, 1997). We present the first observations of Pluto and Charon with a well-calibrated astrometric instrument—the fine guidance sensors on the Hubble Space Telescope. We observed the motion of Pluto and Charon about the system barycenter over 4.4 days (69% of an orbital period) and determined the mass ratio to be 0.122±0.008 which implies a density of 1.8 to 2.1 g cm−3 for Pluto and 1.6 to 1.8 g cm−3 for Charon. The resulting rock-mass fractions for Pluto and Charon are higher than expected for bodies formed in the outer solar nebula, possibly indicating significant postaccretion loss of volatiles.  相似文献   

13.
We measured the chemical composition of Comet C/2007 W1 (Boattini) using the long-slit echelle grating spectrograph at Keck-2 (NIRSPEC) on 2008 July 9 and 10. We sampled 11 volatile species (H2O, OH∗, C2H6, CH3OH, H2CO, CH4, HCN, C2H2, NH3, NH2, and CO), and retrieved three important cosmogonic indicators: the ortho-para ratios of H2O and CH4, and an upper-limit for the D/H ratio in water. The abundance ratios of almost all trace volatiles (relative to water) are among the highest ever observed in a comet. The comet also revealed a complex outgassing pattern, with some volatiles (the polar species H2O and CH3OH) presenting very asymmetric spatial profiles (extended in the anti-sunward hemisphere), while others (e.g., C2H6 and HCN) showed particularly symmetric profiles. We present emission profiles measured along the Sun-comet line for all observed volatiles, and discuss different production scenarios needed to explain them. We interpret the emission profiles in terms of release from two distinct moieties of ice, the first being clumps of mixed ice and dust released from the nucleus into the sunward hemisphere. The second moiety considered is very small grains of nearly pure polar ice (water and methanol, without dark material or apolar volatiles). Such grains would sublimate only very slowly, and could be swept into the anti-sunward hemisphere by radiation pressure and solar-actuated non-gravitational jet forces, thus providing an extended source in the anti-sunward hemisphere.  相似文献   

14.
Radiation synthesis has been proposed as a mechanism for changing the nature of the outer few meters of ice in a comet stored 4.6 billion years in the Oort cloud and may explain some of the differences observed between new and more evolved comets. Cometary-type ice mixtures were studied in a laboratory experiment designed to approximately simulate the expected temperature, pressure, and radiation environment of the interstellar Oort cloud region. The 2.5- to 15-μm infrared absorption features of thin ice films were analyzed near 20°K before and after 1 MeV proton irradiation. Various ice mixtures included the molecules H2O, NH3, CH4, N2, C3H8, CO, and CO2. All experiments confirm the synthesis of new molecular species in solid phase mixtures at 20°K. The synthesized molecules, identified by their infrared signatures, are C2H6, CO2, CO, N2O, NO, and CH4 (weak). Synthesized molecules, identified by gas chromatographic (GC) analysis of the volatile fraction of the warmed irradiated ice mixture, are C2H4 or C2H6, and C3H8. When CH4 is present in the irradiated ice mixture, long-chained volatile hydrocarbons and CO2 are synthesized along with high-molecular-weight carbon compounds present in the room temperature residue. Irradiated mixtures containing CO and H2O synthesize CO2 and those CO2 and H2O synthesize CO. Due to radiation synthesis, ～1% of the ice was converted into a nonvolatile residue containing complicated carbon compounds not present in blank samples. These results suggest that irrespective of the composition of newly accreted comets, initial molecular abundances can be altered and new species created as a result of radiation synthesis. Irradiated mixtures exhibited thermoluminescence and pressure enhancements during warming; these phenomena suggest irradiation synthesis of reactive species. Ourbursts in new comets resulting from similar radiation induced exothermic activity would be expected to occur beginning at distances of the order of 100 AU.  相似文献   

15.
We have quantitatively studied, by infrared absorption spectroscopy, the CO/CO2 molecular number ratio after ion irradiation of ices and mixtures containing astrophysically relevant species such as CO, CO2, H2O, CH4, CH3OH, NH3, O2, and N2 at 12–15 K. The ratios have also been measured after warm up to temperatures between 12 and 200 K. As a general result we find that the CO/CO2 ratio decreases with the irradiation dose (amount of energy deposited on the sample). In all of the studied mixtures, as expected, it decreases with increasing temperature because of CO sublimation. However the temperature where CO sublimes strongly depends on the initial mixture, remaining at a temperature over 100 K in some cases. Our results might be relevant to interpret the observed CO/CO2 ratio in several astrophysical scenarios such as planetary icy surfaces and ice mantles on grains in the interstellar medium. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.  相似文献   

16.
The infrared transmission spectra and photochemical behavior of various organic compounds isolated in solid N2 ices, appropriate for applications to Triton and Pluto, are presented. It is shown that excess absorption in the surface spectra of Triton and Pluto, i.e., absorption not explained by present models incorporating molecules already identified on these bodies (N2, CH4, CO, and CO2), that starts near 4450 cm-1 (2.25 micrometers) and extends to lower frequencies, may be due to alkanes (C(n)H2n+2) and related molecules frozen in the nitrogen. Branched and linear alkanes may be responsible. Experiments in which the photochemistry of N2:CH4 and N(2):CH4:CO ices was explored demonstrate that the surface ices of Triton and Pluto may contain a wide variety of additional species containing H, C, O, and N. Of these, the reactive molecule diazomethane, CH2N2, is particularly important since it may be largely responsible for the synthesis of larger alkanes from CH4 and other small alkanes. Diazomethane would also be expected to drive chemical reactions involving organics in the surface ices of Triton and Pluto toward saturation, i.e., to reduce multiple CC bonds. The positions and intrinsic strengths (A values) of many of the infrared absorption bands of N2 matrix-isolated molecules of relevance to Triton and Pluto have also been determined. These can be used to aid in their search and to place constraints on their abundances. For example, using these A values the abundance ratios CH4/N2 approximately 1.3 x 10(-3), C2H4/N2 < or = 9.5 x 10(-7) and H2CO/N2 < or = 7.8 x 10(-7) are deduced for Triton and CH4/N2 approximately 3.1 x 10(-3), C2H4/N2 < or = 4.1 x 10(-6), and H2CO/N2 < or = 5.2 x 10(-6) deduced for Pluto. The small amounts of C2H4 and H2CO in the surface ices of these bodies are in disagreement with the large abundances expected from many theoretical models.  相似文献   

17.
We propose an interpretation of the enrichments in volatiles observed in the four giant planets with respect to the solar abundance. It is based on the assumption that volatiles were trapped in the form of solid clathrate hydrates and incorporated in planetesimals embedded in the feeding zones of each of the four giant planets. The mass of trapped volatiles is then held constant with time. The mass of hydrogen and of not trapped gaseous species continuously decreased with time until the formation of the planet was completed, resulting in an increase in the ratio of the mass of trapped volatiles to the mass of hydrogen (Gautier et al., Astrophys. J. 550 (2001) L227). The efficiency of the clathration depends upon the amount of ice available in the early feeding zone. The quasi-uniform enrichment in Ar, Kr, Xe, C, N, and S observed in Jupiter is reproduced because all volatiles were trapped. The non-uniform enrichment observed in C, N and S in Saturn is due to the fact that CH4, NH3, and H2S were trapped but not CO and N2. The non-uniform enrichment in C, N and S in Uranus and Neptune results from the trapping of CH4, CO, NH3 and H2S, while N2 was not trapped. Our scenario permits us to interpret the strongly oversolar sulfur abundance inferred by various modelers to be present in Saturn, Uranus and Neptune for reproducing the microwave spectra of the three planets. Abundances of Ar, Kr and Xe in these three are also predicted. Only Xe is expected to be substantially oversolar. The large enrichment in oxygen in Neptune with respect to the solar abundance, calculated by Lodders and Fegley (Icarus 112 (1994) 368) from the detection of CO in the upper troposphere of the planet, is consistent with the trapping of volatiles by clathration. The upper limit of CO in Uranus does not exclude that this process also occurred in Uranus.  相似文献   

18.
We present near-IR (2.2-2.4 μm) reflectance and transmittance spectra of frozen (16 and 77 K) methanol (CH3OH) and water-methanol (1:1) mixtures before and after irradiation with 30 keV He+ and 200 keV H+ ions. Spectra of other simple hydrocarbons (CH4, C2H2, C2H4, C2H6) and CO have also been obtained both to help in the identification of the new molecules formed after ion irradiation of methanol-rich ices, and to get insight into the question of the presence of simple frozen hydrocarbons on the surface of some objects in the outer Solar System. The results confirm what obtained by studies performed in different spectral ranges, namely the ion-induced formation of CO and CH4, and, for the first time, evidence a strong decrease of the intensity of the methanol band at about 2.34 μm in comparison with that at 2.27 μm. The results are discussed in view of their relevance for icy objects in the Solar System (namely comets, Centaurs, and Kuiper belt objects) where CH3OH has been observed or suggested to be present.  相似文献   

19.
W.M. Grundy  L.A. Young 《Icarus》2004,172(2):455-465
We present eight new 0.8 to 2.4 μm spectral observations of Neptune's satellite Triton, obtained at IRTF/SpeX during 2002 July 15-22 UT. Our objective was to determine how Triton's near-infrared spectrum varies as Triton rotates, and to establish an accurate baseline for comparison with past and future observations. The most striking spectral change detected was in Triton's nitrogen ice absorption band at 2.15 μm; its strength varies by about a factor of two as Triton rotates. Maximum N2 absorption approximately coincides with Triton's Neptune-facing hemisphere, which is also the longitude where the polar cap extends nearest Triton's equator. More subtle rotational variations are reported for Triton's CH4 and H2O ice absorption bands. Unlike the other ices, Triton's CO2 ice absorption bands remain nearly constant as Triton rotates. Triton's H2O ice is shown to be crystalline, rather than amorphous. Triton's N2 ice is confirmed to be the warmer, hexagonal, β N2 phase, and its CH4 is confirmed to be highly diluted in N2 ice.  相似文献   

20.
A cometary ice analog sample consisting primarily of carbon suboxide ice (C3O2) was produced from the irradiation of its precursor, carbon monoxide. This carbon suboxide sample was subjected to irradiation with energetic electrons at 10 K to simulate the interaction of carbon suboxide-rich cometary analog ices with ionizing radiation. The destruction of carbon suboxide as well as the production of the primary degradation products, dicarbon monoxide (C2O), and carbon monoxide (CO), were monitored quantitatively by infrared spectroscopy in situ; the gas phase was simultaneously sampled via quadrupole mass spectrometry. A kinetic model was produced to help explain the decomposition kinetics of carbon suboxide in cometary ices and to infer the underlying reaction mechanisms.  相似文献   

设为首页 | 免责声明 | 关于勤云 | 加入收藏

Copyright©北京勤云科技发展有限公司  京ICP备09084417号