Photoprocessing of Organic Material on Ceres: Laboratory Studies on Chemical Evolution of the Inner Dwarf Planet

Abstract

Ceres is the largest object of the Solar System main belt with a complex geological and chemical history, which experienced extensive water related processes and geochemical differentiation. Ceres' surface is characterized by dark materials, phyllosilicates, ammonium-bearing minerals, carbonates, water ice, and salts. In addition to a global presence of carbon-bearing chemistry, local concentration of aliphatic organics has been detected by Dawn mission. The mission, thanks to the data collected by the Italian instrument VIR, showed clear evidence of a high amount of aliphatic organic material on the surface of Ceres. This has raised new questions about the origin and preservation of this material, especially when considering its high estimated abundance. We started a series of laboratory studies on physicochemical evolution of organic material interacting with minerals thought to be present on Ceres. The goal is to understand the transformations induced on these samples by processing with ultraviolet radiation.