Archive

Hydrated Ammonium-Magnesium-Phosphorus-rich compounds (“HAMP”) have been discovered in the samples from the Ryugu asteroid. Embedded within an organic-rich phyllosilicate matrix, they may have been a key source of phosphorus and nitrogen necessary for the start of prebiotic chemistry on the primitive Earth.

A large observing program of the James Webb Space Telescope has recently provided the first comprehensive view of Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs), the small primitive bodies of the outer solar system, orbiting beyond Neptune, from which some comets originate. Observations of 59 objects obtained with the NIRSpec instrument have been analyzed by an international research team involving the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale. The infrared spectra reveal the first-ever detections of CO₂ and CO ices on small bodies in the outer solar system.

An international research team involving scientists from IAS and other laboratories has just revealed the chemical composition of a disk of matter rotating around a young star, where new planets are forming. The results reveal the largest number of carbon-containing molecules observed to date in such a disk, and have implications for the potential composition of planets that could form around this star. These results, published in the journal Science, were obtained as part of the MIRI instrument's guaranteed time program, developed by a consortium of laboratories in Europe and the USA and involving the IAS.

Since December 2020, the near-infrared hyperspectral microscope MicrOmega, developed by IAS, took part in the analyzes of the samples returned from the carbonaceous asteroid Ryugu by the JAXA Hayabusa2 mission. Thanks to test campaigns, with IAS participation, this high-performance instrument is now ready to analyze samples from the Bennu asteroid, brought back by OSIRIS-REx.