Variations in cometary dust composition from Giotto to Rosetta, clues to their formation mechanisms

• Published in: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• Main Authors: Engrand, Cécile, Duprat, Jean, Dartois, Emmanuel, Benzerara, Karim, Leroux, Hugues, Baklouti, Donia, Bardyn, Anaïs, Briois, Christelle, Cottin, Hervé, Fischer, Henning, Fray, Nicolas, Godard, Marie, Hilchenbach, Martin, Langevin, Yves, Paquette, John, Rynö, Jouni, Schulz, Rita, Silén, Johan, Stenzel, Oliver, Thirkell, Laurent
• Other Authors: Centre de Sciences Nucléaires et de Sciences de la Matière (CSNSM AS), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Université Paris-Saclay-Univ. Paris-Sud, Institut d'astrophysique spatiale (IAS), Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National d’Études Spatiales Paris (CNES), Institut de minéralogie, de physique des matériaux et de cosmochimie (IMPMC), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut de recherche pour le développement IRD : UR206-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Unité Matériaux et Transformations - UMR 8207 (UMET), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Lille (ENSCL)-Institut de Chimie - CNRS Chimie (INC-CNRS)-Université de Lille-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace (LPC2E), Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers en région Centre (OSUC), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National d’Études Spatiales Paris (CNES), Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques (LISA (UMR_7583)), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 (UPEC UP12)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung = Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Centre de Sciences Nucléaires et de Sciences de la Matière (CSNSM), Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), ESA Scientific Support Office, Agence Spatiale Européenne = European Space Agency (ESA), ANR-10-IDEX-0001,PSL,Paris Sciences et Lettres(2010), ANR-11-BS56-0026,OGRESSE,Grains cométaires et évolution du système solaire primitif : analyses isotopiques de micrométéorites polaires cométaires(2011)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: meteors; meteorites; extinction; meteoroids comets: general minor planets; asteroids: general interplanetary medium ISM: abundances dust; [SDU.ASTR]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]; [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-SPACE-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Space Physics [physics.space-ph]; Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://insu.hal.science/insu-01404154; https://insu.hal.science/insu-01404154/document; https://insu.hal.science/insu-01404154/file/stw2844.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw2844

International audience This paper reviews the current knowledge on the composition of cometary dust (ice, minerals and organics) in order to constrain their origin and formation mechanisms. Comets have been investigated by astronomical observations, space missions (Giotto to Rosetta), and by the analysis of cometary dust particles collected on Earth, chondritic porous interplanetary dust particles (CP-IDPs) and ultracarbonaceous Antarctic micrometeorites (UCAMMs). Most ices detected in the dense phases of the interstellar medium (ISM) have been identified in cometary volatiles. However, differences also suggest that cometary ices cannot be completely inherited from the ISM. Cometary minerals are dominated by crystalline Mg-rich silicates, Fe sulphides and glassy phases including GEMS (glass with embedded metals and sulphides). The crystalline nature and refractory composition of a significant fraction of the minerals in comets imply a high temperature formation/processing close to the proto-Sun, resetting a possible presolar signature of these phases. These minerals were further transported up to the external regions of the disc and incorporated in comet nuclei. Cometary matter contains a low abundance of isotopically anomalous minerals directly inherited from the presolar cloud. At least two different kinds of organic matter are found in dust of cometary origin, with low or high nitrogen content. N-poor organic matter is also observed in primitive interplanetary materials (like carbonaceous chondrites) and its origin is debated. The N-rich organic matter is only observed in CP-IDPs and UCAMMs and can be formed by Galactic cosmic ray irradiation of N2- and CH4-rich icy surface at large heliocentric distance beyond a ‘nitrogen snow line’.