This discovery represents an imaginary fingerprint for scientists – it indicates who could be the “perpetrator” of life on Earth. Comets such as Catalina could be the primary source of carbon on planets such as Earth and Mars during the early formation of the solar system. And carbon is one of the basic building blocks of life.
New results of SOFIA telescope observations published in the Planetary Science Journal. “Carbon is the key to understanding the origins of life,” said Charles “Chick” Woodward, an astrophysicist and professor at the University of Minnesota. “We are still not sure whether the Earth was able to capture enough carbon on its own at the time of its creation. Carbon-rich comets may have been the important source that provided this essential element that led to life as we know it. ”
Evidence frozen in time
Comet Catalina and other similar bodies have a common place of origin – the Oort cloud, which lies in the farthest reaches of our solar system.
They have such long orbits that they bring evidence from the ancient past to the Sun and offer astronomers a rare opportunity to learn about times when the solar system was much younger.
Infrared observations from the SOFIA telescope were able to capture the composition of dust and gas that evaporated from the comet to form its striking tail. Observations show that Comet Catalina is rich in carbon, which means that it probably formed in the outer regions of the young solar system. At that time, there must have been a carbon sink that could have been important for life.
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Earth and other terrestrial planets in the solar system were so hot during their formation that elements such as carbon were lost or simply depleted. While colder gas giants like Jupiter and Neptune could support the existence of carbon. But Jupiter’s gravity prevented it from penetrating the interior of our system.
Carbon, the gift of comets
So how did the inner rocky planets evolve into the carbon-rich worlds they are today? It’s not clear, but one hypothesis says that a slight change in Jupiter’s orbit allowed small comet ancestors to get carbon from outer regions of the solar system to inner regions – and there it became part of planets such as Earth and Mars.
The study’s authors note that observing Comet Catalina alone is not enough evidence. “More comets need to be observed to see if there are more carbon-rich comets in the Oort cloud – that would be better evidence that comets supplied carbon and other life-supporting elements to Earth’s planets,” the scientists added.
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