Organic Molecules in the Icy Bodies of Planetary Systems – Accepted Notions and New Ideas

Abstract

Cometary bodies are acknowledged to contain some of the most pristine matter in the Solar System, including ices and minerals. Certain number of previously unidentified spectral emission features detected in comets can be explained as emission by hydrocarbon molecules enclosed in a Shpolskii matrix and forming frozen hydrocarbon particles. UV-induced photoluminescence spectra of several self-organized molecules exhibit emission lines coincident with unidentified cometary lines, and open the possibility of the presence of this complex organic as components of the pristine organic inventory of comets. Complex organic was detected also in three satellites of Saturn. We describe in this paper results of our investigation of complex organic of the small bodies and present new approaches and hypotheses.

Keywords

• comets
• planets
• ice
• organic matter
• prebiotic evolution