A low fraction of nitrogen in molecular form in a dark cloud

S. Maret (), E. A. Bergin and C. J. Lada
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S. Maret: University of Michigan
E. A. Bergin: University of Michigan
C. J. Lada: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Nature, 2006, vol. 442, issue 7101, 425-427

Abstract: Interplanetary dust: N rules Comets are believed to be aggregates of 'dirty snow' that formed at about the same time as the Solar System. The similarity between the composition of cometary and interstellar ices is striking and hints at an interstellar origin. However, clear differences exist: notably molecular nitrogen (N2) is deficient in comets compared with molecular clouds. Or so it was thought. Using a new technique, Maret et al. measured nitrogen abundance in a dense molecular cloud. Instead of finding a preponderance of molecular nitrogen, it is the atomic form that dominates. This discovery underlines the similarity between the chemical composition of comets, meteorites, interstellar dust and molecular clouds. And as nitrogen fractionation is greater for atoms than for molecules, isotopic anomalies observed in meteorites and interstellar dust particles are also accounted for.

Date: 2006
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DOI: 10.1038/nature04919

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