The ancient heritage of water ice in the solar system
Cleeves, L. Ilsedore; Bergin, Edwin A.; Alexander, Conel M. O’D.; et al.Du, Fujun; Graninger, Dawn; Oberg, Karin I.; Harries, Tim J.
Date: 26 September 2014
Journal
Science
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Publisher DOI
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Abstract
Identifying the source of Earth's water is central to understanding the origins of life-fostering environments and to assessing the prevalence of such environments in space. Water throughout the solar system exhibits deuterium-to-hydrogen enrichments, a fossil relic of low-temperature, ion-derived chemistry within either (i) the parent ...
Identifying the source of Earth's water is central to understanding the origins of life-fostering environments and to assessing the prevalence of such environments in space. Water throughout the solar system exhibits deuterium-to-hydrogen enrichments, a fossil relic of low-temperature, ion-derived chemistry within either (i) the parent molecular cloud or (ii) the solar nebula protoplanetary disk. Using a comprehensive treatment of disk ionization, we find that ion-driven deuterium pathways are inefficient, which curtails the disk's deuterated water formation and its viability as the sole source for the solar system's water. This finding implies that, if the solar system's formation was typical, abundant interstellar ices are available to all nascent planetary systems.
Physics and Astronomy
Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy
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