Abstract
Organic materials have been shown to be a major component of the solid grains in long path lengths through the Galaxy1–3. Their identification was through the C–H bond stretching vibration transition near 3.4 µm, which in grains is seen as a broad, weakly structured absorption feature on the radiation of bright background sources. A similar spectral feature was seen in emission in comet Halley4–7. Direct measurement of the grain composition near the nucleus by mass spectrometry8,9 confirmed the organic composition of much of the material shed by comet Halley. There, however, the surface appears to have been heavily processed by long exposure to sunlight, and it remains unclear whether the organic material represented a release of pristine grains from within the nucleus, or the stripping from the surface of the processed material. Here we report the detection of a similar, but distinct, emission feature in comet Wilson, a comet probably making its first visit to the solar vicinity.
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Allen, D., Wickramasinghe, D. Discovery of organic grains in comet Wilson. Nature 329, 615–616 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1038/329615a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/329615a0
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