The search for complex molecules in comets

Details The search for complex molecules in comets The search for complex molecules in comets

Dec 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004sf2a.conf...71c&link_type=abstract

SF2A-2004: Semaine de l'Astrophysique Francaise, meeting held in Paris, France, June 14-18, 2004. Edited by F. Combes, D. Barret

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Scientific paper

From radio spectroscopic observations of comets, more than 22 molecules, radicals and ions, plus several isotopologues, were detected, the majority of them being recently revealed in comets C/1996 B2 (Hyakutake) and C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp). Among them were acetic acid, formic acid, methyl formate... detected in radio spectra obtained at the IRAM 30-m telescope and Plateau de Bure interferometer and at the Caltech Sumillimeter Observatory in spring 1997 (Bockelée-Morvan et al., 2000, Astron. Astrophys., 353, 1101). In addition, upper limits were obtained for several species, including complex organic molecules such as ethanol, acetic acid, glycolaldehyde, glycine... (Crovisier et al., 2004, Astron. Astrophys., 418, 1141). Ethylene glycol (HOCH2CH2OH) was recently identified from about ten rotational lines in the archival spectra of comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) (Crovisier et al., 2004, Astron. Astrophys., 418, L35). The identification was made just after the rotational lines of this molecule were included in the Cologne Database for Molecular Spectroscopy. The production rate of ethylene glycol is ~0.25% that of water, making it one of the most abundant organic molecules in cometary ices. This detection strengthens the similarity between interstellar and cometary material. It outlines the possible role of cometary impacts in the origin of life by seeding the early Earth with prebiotic molecules.

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