期刊
ASTROBIOLOGY
卷 4, 期 1, 页码 109-121出版社
MARY ANN LIEBERT, INC
DOI: 10.1089/153110704773600276
关键词
prebiotic molecules; origin of life; meteors; molecular band emission
We report the discovery of the N-2(+) A-X Meinel band in the 780-840 nm meteor emission from two Leonid meteoroids that were ejected less than 1,000 years ago by comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. Our analysis indicates that the N-2(+) molecule is at least an order of magnitude less abundant than expected, possibly as a result of charge transfer reactions with meteoric metal atoms. This new band was found while searching for rovibrational transitions in the (XII)-I-2 electronic ground state of OH (the OH Meinel band), a potential tracer of water bound to minerals in cometary matter. The electronic A-X transition of OH has been identified in other Leonid meteors. We did not detect this OH Meinel band, which implies that the excited A state is not populated by thermal excitation but by a mechanism that directly produces OH in low vibrational levels of the excited A(2)Sigma state. Ultraviolet dissociation of atmospheric or meteoric water vapor is such it mechanism, as is the possible combustion of meteoric organics.
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