Search results for "astrobiology"
showing 10 items of 70 documents
Interpretation of the Solar 48Ca/46Ca Abundance Ratio and the Correlated Ca-Ti-Cr Isotopic Anomalies in Inclusions of the Allende Meteorite
1986
In the past, astrophysical models encountered severe difficulties in explaining the solar 46,48Ca abundances or the correlated Ca-Ti-Cr isotopic anomalies observed in inclusions of the Allende meteorite [1–3]. Among the various attempts. SANDLER et al. [4] suggested the production of neutron-rich stable Ca-Ti-Cr isotopes in a high neutron density environment of ~107 mol/cm3 with a neutron-exposure time of 10 s. Assuming the initial abundances to be solar and applying Hauser-Feshbach neutron-capture crosa sections, the above authors have calculated a 48Ca/46Ca abundance ratio which is only a factor of 2.6 smaller than the observed solar value of 56. However, the predicted isotopic anomalies …
Investigation of surface properties of lunar regolith - Part IV
2008
Historical Reminiscences: The Pioneering Years of Superheavy Element Research
2013
This chapter deals with the pioneering years of superheavy element research, from the mid 1960s to the mid 1980s. The prediction that superheavy nuclides could form an island around element 114 with half-lives long enough to have survived in Nature since nucleosynthesis led to intensive searches—not unlike “gold fever”—for such relic nuclei in all sorts of natural environments. Positive claims were raised from time to time but could not stand up under further scrutiny. Numerous attempts to synthesize superheavy nuclei by large leaps from the mainland of elemental stability to the island of superheavy elements went without success as well. The discovery of three more transactinide elements, …
EXO-PLANETARY HIGH-TEMPERATURE HYDROCARBONS BY EMISSION AND ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY (e-PYTHEAS PROJECT)
2019
International audience; e-PYTHEAS is a multidisciplinary project which combines theoretical and experimental work with exoplanet modelling applications. It sits on the frontier between molecular physics, theoretical chemistry and astrophysics. It aims at enhancing our understanding of the radiative properties of hot gaseous media to allow for improved analysis and interpretation of the large mass of data available on the thousands of exoplanets and exoplanetary systems known to date. Our approach is to use theoretical research validated by laboratory experiments and to then inject it into models of the atmospheres of the giant gaseous planets in the solar system and other planetary systems.…
The young hard active Sun: soft X-ray irradiation of tryptophan in water solutions
2010
AbstractThe X-ray emission of the young Sun was much harder and intense than today and might have played a significant role in the evolution of complex organics in protoplanetary environments. We investigate the effects of soft X-rays on tryptophan molecules in aqueous solutions at room temperature. As results of the irradiation experiments we detect several light species indicative of fragmentation, together with large molecular structures such as tryptophan dipeptide and tripeptide. Complexification is more evident in H2O solution than in D2O, probably due to isotopic effects. The abundances of peptides depend on the irradiation dose and decrease with increasing energy deposition. Radical…
Subsurface chemistry of mantles of interstellar dust grains in dark molecular cores
2010
Context. The abundances of many observed compounds in interstellar molecular clouds still lack an explanation, despite extensive research that includes both gas and solid (dust-grain surface) phase reactions. Aims. We aim to qualitatively prove the idea that a hydrogen-poor subsurface chemistry on interstellar grains is responsible for at least some of these chemical "anomalies". This chemistry develops in the icy mantles when photodissociation reactions in the mantle release free hydrogen, which escapes the mantle via diffusion. This results in serious alterations of the chemical composition of the mantle because pores in the mantle provide surfaces for reactions in the new, hydrogen-poor …
Oxygen, Its Nature and Chemistry: What Is so Special About This Element?
2010
It would seem that an introduction to oxygen is unnecessary, for we deal with it and depend upon it every moment of our lives. Oxygen is to us the essential stuff of the air we breathe. We are aerobic animals who obtain energy by oxidizing foodstuffs. As such, we are wholly dependent on oxygen for life – go without it for a couple of minutes and we panic and may even suffer irreversible brain damage. In a few more minutes, we perish. Animal metabolism depends upon oxygen for almost all of its energy-generating processes. Yet this was not always so. Early in the history of the Earth, there was essentially no free oxygen anywhere, although oxygen has always been one of the most abundant eleme…
Ultraviolet Imaging of Volcanic Plumes: A New Paradigm in Volcanology
2017
Ultraviolet imaging has been applied in volcanology over the last ten years or so. This provides considerably higher temporal and spatial resolution volcanic gas emission rate data than available previously, enabling the volcanology community to investigate a range of far faster plume degassing processes, than achievable hitherto. To date this has covered rapid oscillations in passive degassing through conduits and lava lakes, as well as puffing and explosions, facilitating exciting connections to be made for the first time between previously rather separate sub disciplines of volcanology. Firstly, there has been corroboration between geophysical and degassing datasets at ≈ 1 Hz e…
INVESTIGATION OF NEO ASTEROIDS 2006 VB14 AND 1986 DA
2019
566 positions and photometric observa- tions of NEO objects 2006 VB14 = Y5705 = 345705 and 1986 DA were obtained with Baldone Schmidt telescope in 2018 and 2019, to detecting rotation period and other physical characteristics. A Fourier transform was applied to determine the rotation period for asteroid 1986 DA=6178. Value 3.12 ± 0.02h was obtained. Observations confirm the previously obtained rotation period P = 3.25h for 2006 VB14.