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From the Interstellar Medium to Planetary Atmospheres via Comets

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Collisional Processes in the Solar System

Part of the book series: Astrophysics and Space Science Library ((ASSL,volume 261))

Abstract

Laboratory experiments on the trapping of gases by ice forming at low temperatures implicate comets as major carriers of the heavy noble gases to the inner planets. Recent work on deuterium in Comet Hale-Bopp provides good evidence that comets contain some unmodified interstellar material. However, if the sample of three comets analyzed so far is typical, the Earth’s oceans cannot have been produced by comets alone. The highly fractionated neon in the Earth’s atmosphere also indicates the importance of non-icy carriers of volatiles, as do the noble gas abundances in meteorites from Mars.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Hawaii, Institute for Astronomy, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96822, USA

    Tobias C. Owen

  2. Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv, Israel

    Akiva Bar-Nun

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  1. Tobias C. Owen
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  2. Akiva Bar-Nun
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, Moscow, Russia

    Mikhail Ya. Marov

  2. Astronomical Observatory, Uppsala, Sweden

    Hans Rickman

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Owen, T.C., Bar-Nun, A. (2001). From the Interstellar Medium to Planetary Atmospheres via Comets. In: Marov, M.Y., Rickman, H. (eds) Collisional Processes in the Solar System. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 261. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0712-2_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0712-2_15

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