Astrochemistry and Origins
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Dernières news
1 month 1 week ago
A study in which IAS participated has just revealed the presence of new molecules on the surface of Charon, Pluto's largest moon, thanks to observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). While a NASA mission, New Horizons, had already mapped this moon in 2015, recent observations by JWST have detected carbon dioxide and hydrogen peroxide on its surface for the first time, enriching our understanding of its chemical composition.
5 months 1 week ago
A large observing program of the James Webb Space Telescope has recently provided the first comprehensive view of Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs), the small primitive bodies of the outer solar system, orbiting beyond Neptune, from which some comets originate. Observations of 59 objects obtained with the NIRSpec instrument have been analyzed by an international research team involving the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale. The infrared spectra reveal the first-ever detections of CO₂ and CO ices on small bodies in the outer solar system.
6 months 5 days ago
Since December 2020, the near-infrared hyperspectral microscope MicrOmega, developed by IAS, took part in the analyzes of the samples returned from the carbonaceous asteroid Ryugu by the JAXA Hayabusa2 mission. Thanks to test campaigns, with IAS participation, this high-performance instrument is now ready to analyze samples from the Bennu asteroid, brought back by OSIRIS-REx.
1 year 1 month ago
In December 2020, the Hayabusa2 spacecraft brought back to Earth 5.4 grams of samples from the primitive asteroid Ryugu. These grains were collected in two locations, with one collection after an artificial impact that excavated subsurface material. The entire collection is being analysed at JAXA’s Curation Facility (Sagamihara, Japan), under a controlled atmosphere to prevent contamination of the samples by the terrestrial atmosphere.
1 year 4 months ago
Infrared spectra of anhydrous grains from the carbonaceous asteroid Ryugu indicate a connection between one of the reservoirs from which Ryugu's parent body originated and the reservoirs that formed comets and primitive asteroids in the outer protoplanetary disk.