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Scientists are studying which “space” samples are forgotten by them, and their latest discovery of phosphorus and fluorine in solid dust particles collected from Comet 67P / Churyumov-GerasimenkoK, which takes 6.5 years to orbit the sun.
Analysis of the comet samples indicates that many of the elements necessary for life to thrive on Earth may have reached Earth via comets.
Scientists from the Finnish University of Turku collected phosphorus and fluorine from solid dust particles obtained from the inner core of comet 67P / Churyumov-GerasimenkoK K using a secondary ion mass analyzer (COSIMA).
This sophisticated instrument was operating aboard the European Space Agency (ESA) Rosetta spacecraft as it tracked the comet a few miles away, between September 2014 and September 2016.
COSIMA then proceeded to collect dust particles directly, a process that involved remote imaging of three 1com wide panels.
Phosphorus is vital as it is used to make DNA and cell membranes, and all living things need it for energy.
However, despite its importance, phosphorus is a relatively rare compound on Earth and is generally trapped in rocks such as the mineral apatite. But this is not the first time phosphorus has been found in a comet.
The first discovery of this crucial element was made by the US-based US Space Agency’s Vega 1 mission while passing Comet 1P / Halley in 1986.
Although it is an important discovery in itself, it is unlikely that phosphorus gas was present as one of the main species in the early atmosphere of our planet.
“We show that the mineral apatite is not the source of phosphorus, which means that the discovered phosphorus is produced in a reduced form and may be more soluble,” said Dr. Harry Leto from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Turku.
This latest research marks the first time that the elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur (CHNOPS) vital to life have been discovered in solid materials from comets.
These elements have been reported in other studies by the COSIMA team of other organic molecules.
The new discovery of the chemical element phosphorus is the latest from CHNOPS.
This is believed to point to the comet’s interpretation as an increasingly realistic origin for these elements brought to the nascent Earth.
Fluorine was also discovered with the presence of secondary ions in comet debris. CF gas was first detected in interstellar dust last year.
Fluorine is an ion that has now been discovered in the comet and its properties in such a cometary environment have not yet been fully understood.
“This finding complements the discovery of the CHNOPS elements essential for life in the solid materials of comets, indicating that cometary cloning is a possible source of these elements for the young Earth,” the team wrote in their recently published paper. in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The necessary elements can be planted with a solid comet rich in volatile substances ”, according to Express.
