Probing the interstellar origin of carbon and nitrogen-bearing organics in our solar system

Abstract

One of the legacies of the Herschel Space Observatory is the broad spectral coverage (∼1.3 THz with a million independent channels) of the mol. emission towards the richest org. emitters in our galaxy. When combined with ground-based measurements, these data provide near complete spectra that sample the most abundant mols. produced by interstellar chem. I will outline how these scans contain clues linking interstellar chem. to orgs. in meteorites that ultimately trace the materials provided to the young Earth, and today comprise key components of our biosphere. In this light, I will discuss the methodol. via which we ext. chem. information from mol. emission detected from dense star-forming gas in the heart of the Orion Nebula (Orion KL). Anal. of these data provides the strongest constraints on chem. abundances of interstellar orgs. offered to date. With this information, we will explore the inventory of carbon and nitrogen orgs. and the potential hints towards an interstellar origin of meteoritic orgs. Figure illustrating the complexity and breadth of the Herschel Spectral Scan of mol. gas in Orion. Anal. published in Crockett et al. 2013, ApJ, in review.

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