Localized aliphatic organic material on the surface of Ceres
Organic compounds detected on Ceres
Water and organic molecules were delivered to the early Earth by the impacts of comets and asteroids. De Sanctis et al. examined infrared spectra taken by the Dawn spacecraft as it orbited Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt (see the Perspective by Küppers). In some small patches on the surface, they detected absorption bands characteristic of aliphatic organic compounds. The authors ruled out an external origin, such as an impact, suggesting that the material must have formed on Ceres. Together with other compounds detected previously, this supports the existence of a complex prebiotic chemistry at some point in Ceres' history.
Abstract
Organic compounds occur in some chondritic meteorites, and their signatures on solar system bodies have been sought for decades. Spectral signatures of organics have not been unambiguously identified on the surfaces of asteroids, whereas they have been detected on cometary nuclei. Data returned by the Visible and InfraRed Mapping Spectrometer on board the Dawn spacecraft show a clear detection of an organic absorption feature at 3.4 micrometers on dwarf planet Ceres. This signature is characteristic of aliphatic organic matter and is mainly localized on a broad region of ~1000 square kilometers close to the ~50-kilometer Ernutet crater. The combined presence on Ceres of ammonia-bearing hydrated minerals, water ice, carbonates, salts, and organic material indicates a very complex chemical environment, suggesting favorable environments to prebiotic chemistry.
Supplementary Material
Summary
Materials and Methods
Supplementary Text
Figs. S1 to S4
Tables S1 and S2
Resources
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Science
Volume 355 | Issue 6326
17 February 2017
17 February 2017
Copyright
Copyright © 2017, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Submission history
Received: 16 September 2016
Accepted: 17 January 2017
Published in print: 17 February 2017
Acknowledgments
We thank the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and NASA for supporting this work. The VIR instrument was funded and coordinated by the ASI and built by Selex ES, with the scientific leadership of the Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology, Italian National Institute for Astrophysics, Italy. The VIR is operated by the Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology, Rome, Italy. A portion of this work was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract to NASA. Dawn data are archived in NASA’s Planetary Data System; VIR spectral data may be obtained at http://sbn.psi.edu/pds/resource/dwncvir.html. We thank E. Quirico for providing the IOM data.
Authors
Funding Information
National Aeronautics and Space Administration: award297026
Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica: award297027