The " Astrochemistry and Origins " team combines laboratory analyses and simulations with interpretation, modeling and observations for the study of solid extraterrestrial matter from small bodies in the Solar System and for the study of the surfaces of icy bodies (trans-Neptunian objects).
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is transforming our understanding of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), the icy remnants of planetary formation. As part of the DiSCo-TNOs project, researchers have used JWST’s near-infrared data to identify two distinct groups among spectrally red TNOs, believed to be rich in organics. The key difference between these groups is the presence of surface ices—particularly methanol (CH₃OH) ice.
The DiSCo program, thanks to the James Webb telescope, identifies three types of TNOs whose chemical composition, linked to their origin in the protoplanetary disk, sheds light on the formation of planetesimals and the dynamic evolution of the primitive Solar System.
A study in which IAS participated has just revealed the presence of new molecules on the surface of Charon, Pluto's largest moon, thanks to observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). While a NASA mission, New Horizons, had already mapped this moon in 2015, recent observations by JWST have detected carbon dioxide and hydrogen peroxide on its surface for the first time, enriching our understanding of its chemical composition.
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.
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.
