Dieter Rehder Chemistry in Space From Interstellar Matter to the Origin of Life Dieter Rehder Chemistry in Space Related Titles Bar-Cohen, Y., Zacny, K (eds.) Drilling in Extreme Environments Penetration and Sampling on Earth and other Planets 2009 ISBN: 978-3-527-40852-8 Grunenberg, J (ed.) Computational Spectroscopy Methods, Experiments and Applications 2010 ISBN: 978-3-527-32649-5 Shaw, A M Astrochemistry From Astronomy to Astrobiology 2006 ISBN: 978-0-470-09138-8 Dieter Rehder Chemistry in Space From Interstellar Matter to the Origin of Life The Author Prof Dr Dieter Rehder Universität Hamburg Department Chemie Martin-Luther-King-Platz 20146 Hamburg Germany All books published by Wiley-VCH are carefully produced Nevertheless, authors, editors, and publisher not warrant the information contained in these books, including this book, to be free of errors Readers are advised to keep in mind that statements, data, illustrations, procedural details or other items may inadvertently be inaccurate Library of Congress Card No.: applied for British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de © 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag & Co KGaA, Boschstr 12, 69469 Weinheim, Germany All rights reserved (including those of translation into other languages) No part of this book may be reproduced in any form – by photoprinting, microfilm, or any other means – nor transmitted or translated into a machine language without written permission from the publishers Registered names, trademarks, etc used in this book, even when not specifically marked as such, are not to be considered unprotected by law Cover The molecules shown on the cover are formic acid and aminoacetonitrile Both have recently been discovered in interstellar clouds Cover Design Grafik-Design Schulz, Fgưnheim Typesetting Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited, Hong Kong Printing and Binding Fabulous Printers Pte Ltd Printed in Singapore Printed on acid-free paper ISBN: 978-3-527-32689-1 V Contents Preface IX Introduction and Technical Notes References 2.1 2.2 2.3 Origin and Development of the Universe The Big Bang Cosmic Evolution: Dark Matter – the First Stars Cosmo-Chronometry 12 Summary 15 References 15 10 3.1 3.1.1 3.1.2 3.1.3 3.1.4 The Evolution of Stars 17 Formation, Classification, and Evolution of Stars 17 General 17 Neutron Stars and Black Holes 23 Accretion and Hydrogen Burning 25 Nuclear Fusion Sequences Involving He, C, O, Ne, and Si 28 3.1.5 The r-, s-, rp- and Related Processes 30 3.1.5.1 General 30 3.1.5.2 Rapid Processes 31 3.1.5.3 Slow Processes 34 3.2 Chemistry in AGB Stars 35 3.3 Galaxies and Clusters 40 Summary 42 References 43 4.1 4.2 4.2.1 4.2.2 The Interstellar Medium 45 General 45 Chemistry in Interstellar Clouds Reaction Types 50 Reaction Networks 54 50 Chemistry in Space: From Interstellar Matter to the Origin of Life Dieter Rehder © 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co KGaA, Weinheim ISBN: 978-3-527-32689-1 VI Contents 4.2.3 Detection of Basic Interstellar Species 61 4.2.3.1 Hydrogen 62 4.2.3.2 Other Basic Molecules 68 4.2.4 Complex Molecules 74 4.2.5 Chemistry on Grains 80 4.2.5.1 The Hydrogen Problem 81 4.2.5.2 Grain Structure, Chemical Composition, and Chemical Reactions 82 Summary 94 References 95 5.1 5.2 5.2.1 5.2.2 5.2.3 5.2.3.1 5.2.3.2 5.2.3.3 5.2.4 5.2.4.1 5.2.4.2 5.2.4.3 5.2.4.4 5.2.4.5 5.2.4.6 5.3 5.3.1 5.3.2 5.3.3 5.4 5.4.1 5.4.2 5.5 5.6 5.6.1 5.6.2 5.6.3 The Solar System 99 Overview 99 Earth’s Moon and the Terrestrial Planets: Mercury, Venus, and Mars 107 The Moon 107 Mercury 110 Venus 115 General, and Geological and Orbit Features 115 Venus’ Atmosphere 118 Chemical Reactions 121 Mars 126 General 126 Orbital Features, and the Martian Moons and Trojans 127 Geological Features, Surface Chemistry, and Mars Meteorites 129 Methane 133 Carbonates, Sulfates, and Water 137 Chemistry in the Martian Atmosphere 140 Summary Section 5.2 145 Ceres, Asteroids, Meteorites, and Interplanetary Dust 146 General and Classification 146 Carbon-Bearing Components in Carbonaceous Chondrites 153 Interplanetary Dust Particles (Presolar Grains) 162 Comets 167 General 167 Comet Chemistry 171 Kuiper Belt Objects 176 Summary Sections 5.3–5.5 179 The Giant Planets and Their Moons 180 Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune 180 The Galilean Moons 186 The Moons Enceladus, Titan and Triton 191 Summary Section 5.6 195 References 196 Contents Exoplanets 203 Summary 211 References 212 7.1 7.2 The Origin of Life 213 What is Life? 213 Putative Non-Carbon and Nonaqueous Life Forms; the Biological Role of Silicate, Phosphate, and Water 220 Life Under Extreme Conditions 230 Summary Sections 7.1–7.3 240 Scenarios for the Primordial Supply of Basic Life Molecules 241 The Iron–Sulfur World (“Pioneer Organisms”) 242 The Miller–Urey and Related Experiments 247 “Clay Organisms” 259 Extraterrestrial Input 262 Extraterrestrial Life? 265 Summary Sections 7.4 and 7.5 274 References 276 7.3 7.4 7.4.1 7.4.2 7.4.3 7.4.4 7.5 Index 281 VII ... 4.2.1 4.2.2 The Interstellar Medium 45 General 45 Chemistry in Interstellar Clouds Reaction Types 50 Reaction Networks 54 50 Chemistry in Space: From Interstellar Matter to the Origin of Life Dieter... primordial matter, which includes Big Bang nucleosynthesis The first about of the time line, starting 13.73 billion Chemistry in Space: From Interstellar Matter to the Origin of Life Dieter Rehder ©... (deuterium), and the helium isotopes 3He and 4He in the Universe provide a convincing back-up of the present theory What became known as the Big Bang theory for the origin of the Universe was originally