Comets and the History of Volatile Matter During Planetary System Formation

这笔赠款将用于支持彗星的高分辨率近红外光谱研究，以检验太阳系早期形成的理论。彗星是早期太阳系的残余物，保留了它们形成时寒冷的外原行星盘的挥发物（冰）。提议的团队将在近红外光谱域中表征彗星挥发性成分，同时通过每个物种的多个光谱线搜索一些母体分子;这些母体分子包括水，氧化碳化合物，对称烃和腈。他们还将对氘水和氘甲烷进行补充搜索，以限制氘氢比。这些观测将有助于限制彗星冰中水和前生物有机分子的化学形成途径，早期太阳系中挥发性物质的演变，以及水和前生物分子向地球的外源输送。该项目将支持本科生研究，并使学生能够参与专业天文观测运行和地方和国家会议。此外，该小组将通过举办一个45小时的关于“彗星、起源和生命：中学课堂上的跨学科科学”的讲习班，为华盛顿和圣刘易斯的高中科学教师的专业发展做出贡献。

This grant renewal will support high-resolution near-infrared spectroscopic studies of comets in order to test theories about the early formation of the solar system. Comets are remnants from the early solar system that retain the volatiles (ices) from the cold outer protoplanetary disk where they formed. The proposing team will characterize the cometary volatile composition in the near-infrared spectral domain, simultaneously searching for a number of parent molecules via multiple spectral lines of each species; these parent molecules include water, oxidized carbon compounds, symmetric hydrocarbons, and nitriles. They will also conduct complementary searches for deuterated water and deuterated methane in order to constrain the deutrerium-to-hydrogen ratio. The observations will help constrain chemical formation pathways for water and pre-biotic organic molecules in cometary ices, the evolution of volatile matter in the early Solar System, and exogenous delivery of water and pre-biotic molecules to Earth. The project will support undergraduate research and enable student participation in professional astronomical observing runs and in local and national conferences. Also, the team will contribute to the professional development of high-school science teachers in the Washington, DC and Saint Louis, MO metropolitan areas, by conducting a 45-hour workshop on "Comets, Origins, and Life: Interdisciplinary Science in the Secondary Classroom".