HR: 0800h
AN: P51A-0904    [Abstracts]
TI: Tracing Organic Material from Interstellar Origins to Meteorites
AU: * Pendleton, Y
EM: Ypendleton@mail.arc.nasa.gov
AF: NASA Ames research Center, Mail Stop 245-1, Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000 United States
AU: Bernstein, M
EM: mbernstein@mail.arc.nasa.gov
AF: NASA Ames research Center, Mail Stop 245-1, Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000 United States
AB: Organic material in the diffuse ISM is predominantly hydrocarbon in nature, possessing little N or O, with the C distributed between the aromatic and aliphatic forms (Pendleton & Allamandola, 2001). A diagnostic IR signature of organic material occurs near 3.4 microns, where the stretching vibrations of hydrocarbons reveal themselves readily. We have discovered a similarity of the CH stretch region of dust from our own galaxy compared with that of distant galaxies, indicating that this organic component of the ISM is widespread and may be an important universal reservoir of prebiotic organic carbon. Furthermore, the remarkable similarity of the 3.4 micron hydrocarbon ISM feature to spectra from extracts of carbonaceous meteoritic material has suggested the possibility that the interstellar component survived relatively unaltered within the parent body of the meteorite. Thus, organic solid material is a fundamental component of interstellar dust, meteorites, comets, and interplanetary dust particles. Exogenous sources of organics are implicated in the origin of life on Earth. In this talk, new telescopic and laboratory investigations into the origin and evolution of the organic matter in the interstellar medium (ISM) will be presented, and their connection to the organics detected in meteorites.
DE: 1028 Composition of meteorites (3662, 6240)
DE: 6205 Asteroids
DE: 6210 Comets (6023)
DE: 6213 Dust
DE: 6240 Meteorites and tektites (1028, 3662)
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005