Organic Synthesis via Irradiation and Warming of Ice Grains in the Solar Nebula

Abstract

Space Organics The origin of the organic compounds found in meteorites and interplanetary dust particles is a matter of debate. Laboratory experiments suggest that these organics were inherited from the interstellar medium and predate the existence of the solar system. By using particle-tracking models, Ciesla and Sandford (p. 452, published online 29 March; see the Perspective by Nuth and Johnson ) explored the possibility that the organics could have been produced within the outer reaches of the protoplanetary disk from which the solar system planets originate. Grains within a protoplanetary disk follow irregular paths; such orbital histories subjected model particles to ultraviolet radiation and temperatures that have been shown in laboratory experiments to generate organic compounds.