Abstract
Chemical and physical processes in the outer solar nebula are reviewed. It is argued that the outer nebula was a chemically active environment with UV photochemistry and ion-molecule chemistry in its low density regions and grain-catalyzed chemistry in Jovian protoplanetary subnebulae. Presolar material was altered to greater or lesser extent by these spatially and temporally variable processes, which mimic many features of interstellar chemistry. Experiments, models, and observations are recommended to address the questions of presolar versus nebular dominance in the outer solar nebula and of how to distinguish interstellar and nebular sources of cometary volatiles.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aikawa, Y., Umebayashi, T., Nakano, T., and Miyama, S.: 1998, ‘Molecular Evolution in Planet Forming Circumstellar Disks’, Faraday Discuss. 109, 281–301.
Anders, E., Hayatsu, R., and Studier, M.H.: 1973, ‘Organic Compounds in Meteorites’, Science 182, 781–790.
Cameron, A.G.W.: 1995, ‘The First Ten Million Years in the Solar Nebula’, Meteoritics 30, 133–161.
Coustenis, A., Salama, A., Lellouch, E., Encrenaz, Th., de Graauw, Th., Bjoraker, G.L., Samuelson, R.E., Gautier, D., Feuchtgruber, H., Kessler, M.F., and Orton, G.S.: 1998, ‘Titan's Atmosphere from ISO Observations: Temperature, Composition and Detection of Water Vapor’, Bull. Amer. Astron. Soc. 30, 1060.
Cronin, J.R., and Chang, S.: 1993, ‘Organic Matter in Meteorites: Molecular and Isotopic Analyses of the Murchison Meteorite’, in The Chemistry of Life's Origins, ed. J.M. Greenberg, C.X. Mendoza-Gomez, and V. Pirronello, Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp. 209–258.
Dartois, E., Schutte, W., Geballe, T.R., Demyk, K., Ehrenfreund, P., DHendecourt, L.: 1999, ‘Methanol: The second most abundant ice species toward the high-mass protostars RAFGL7009S and W 33A’, Astron. Astrophys. 342, L32–35.
Eberhardt, P.: 1998, ‘Volatiles, Isotopes and Origin of Comets’, in Asteroids, Comets, Meteors 1996, COSPAR Colloquium 10, in press.
Fegley, B., Jr. and Prinn, R.G.: 1989, ‘Solar Nebula Chemistry: Implications for Volatiles in the Solar System’, in The Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems, eds. H. Weaver and L. Danly, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 171–211.
Fegley, B., Jr.: 1993, ‘Chemistry of the Solar Nebula’, in The Chemistry of Life's Origins, ed. J.M. Greenberg, C.X. Mendoza-Gomez, and V. Pirronello, Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp. 75–147.
Fegley, B., Jr.: 1998, ‘Iron Grain Catalyzed Methane Formation in the Jovian Protoplanetary Subnebulae and the Origin of Methane on Titan’, Bull. Amer. Astron. Soc. 30, 1092.
Fegley, B., Jr., and Hong, Y.: 1998, ‘Experimental Studies of Grain Catalyzed Reduction of CO to Methane in the Solar Nebula’, EOS Trans. AGU 79, S361–362.
Gladstone, G.R.: 1993, ‘Photochemistry in the Primitive Solar Nebula’, Science 261, 1058.
Gladstone, G.R., and Fegley, B., Jr.: 1997, ‘Lya Photochemistry in the Primitive Solar Nebula’, EOS Trans. AGU 78, F538–539.
Glassgold, A.E.: 1996, ‘Circumstellar Photochemistry’, Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 34, 241–277.
Hayatsu, R., and Anders, E.: 1981, ‘Organic Compounds in Meteorites and their Origins’, Topics in Current Chemistry 99, 1–39.
Irvine, W.M., Schloerb, F.P., Crovisier, J., Fegley, Jr., B., and Mumma, M.J.: 1999, ‘Comets: A Link Between Interstellar and Nebular Chemistry’, in Protostars and Planets IV, ed. A. Boss, V. Mannings, and S. Russell, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ, in press.
Jones, T.D., Lebofsky, L.A., Lewis, J.S., and Marley, M.S.: 1990, ‘The Composition and Origin of the C, P, and D Asteroids: Water as a Tracer of Thermal Evolution in the Outer Belt’, Icarus 88, 172–192.
Lewis, J.S.: 1974, ‘The Temperature Gradient in the Solar Nebula’, Science 186, 440–443.
Prinn, R.G.: 1990, ‘On Neglect of Non-linear Momentum Terms in Solar Nebula Acretion Disk Models’, Astrophys. J. 348, 725–729.
Prinn, R.G., and Fegley, B., Jr.: 1989, ‘Solar Nebula Chemistry: Origin of Planetary, Satellite, and Cometary Volatiles’, in Origin and Evolution of Planetary and Satellite Atmospheres, ed. S.K. Atreya, J.B. Pollack, and M. Matthews, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ, pp. 78–136.
Ruden, S.P., and Lin, D.N.C.: 1986, ‘The Global Evolution of the Primordial Solar Nebula’, Astrophys. J. 308, 883–901.
Schulze, H., Kissel, J., and Jessberger, E.K.: 1997, ‘Chemistry and Mineralogy of Comet Halley's Dust’, in From Stardust to Planetesimals, ed. Y.J. Pendleton and A.G.G.M. Tielens, ASP Conf. Ser. 122, pp. 397–414.
Stevenson, D.J.: 1990, ‘Chemical Heterogeneity and Imperfect Mixing in the Solar Nebula’, Astrophys. J. 348, 730–737.
Stevenson, D.J., and Lunine, J.I.: 1988, ‘Rapid Formation of Jupier by Diffusive Redistribution of Water Vapor in the Solar Nebula’, Icarus 75, 146–155.
Willacy, K., Klahr, H.H., Millar, T.J., and Henning, Th.: 1998, ‘Gas and Grain Chemistry in a protoplanetary Disk’, Astron. Astrophys. 338, 995–1005.
Yung, Y.L., Friedl, R.R., Pinto, J.P., Bayes, K.D., andWen, J.S.: 1988, ‘Kinetic Isotopic Fractionation and the Origin of HDO and CH3D in the Solar System’, Icarus 74, 121–132.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fegley, B. Chemical and Physical Processing of Presolar Materials in the Solar Nebula and the Implications for Preservation of Presolar Materials in Comets. Space Science Reviews 90, 239–252 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005214618305
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005214618305