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Prebiotic chemicals--amino acid and phosphorus--in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Wurz, P.; Bochsler, P.; Altwegg, K. +29 more

The importance of comets for the origin of life on Earth has been advocated for many decades. Amino acids are key ingredients in chemistry, leading to life as we know it. Many primitive meteorites contain amino acids, and it is generally believed that these are formed by aqueous alterations. In the collector aerogel and foil samples of the Stardus…

The presence of clathrates in comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Wurz, P.; Fuselier, S. A.; Rubin, M. +6 more

Cometary nuclei are considered to most closely reflect the composition of the building blocks of our solar system. As such, comets carry important information about the prevalent conditions in the solar nebula before and after planet formation. Recent measurements of the time variation of major and minor volatile species in the coma of the Jupiter…