Ice in Disks

Processing of solid material in a disk

Ice was the most abundant form of solid material beyond the Jovian orbit in the proto-solar nebula. The presence of water ice was critical to shape the solar system as it is today. The condensation of ice controls the opacity of the nebula, therefore the temperature structure and the disk chemistry within. Jupiter could only form behind the "snow line" where the ice enhances the amount of solid material by an order of magnitude. The ice in a disk is the building block of comets and asteroids. The icy mantles on grains could provide the place where the prebiotic molecules and amino acids were photochemically synthesized. It is impossible to reconstruct the early history of the solar system outside the context of evolution of ice.

Capsule Story