H, C, and N isotopic compositions of Hayabusa category 3 organic samples

Ito Motoo

Uesugi Masayuki

Naraoka Hiroshi

Yabuta Hikaru

Kitajima Fumio

Mita Hajime

Takano Yoshinori

Karouji Yuzuru

Yada Toru

Ishibashi Yukihiro

Okada Tatsuaki

Abe Masanao

Earth, Planets and Space

Since isotopic ratios of H, C, and N are sensitive indicators for determining extraterrestrial organics, we have measured these isotopes of Hayabusa category 3 organic samples of RB-QD04-0047-02, RA-QD02-0120, and RB-QD04-0001 with ion imaging using a NanoSIMS ion microprobe. All samples have H, C, and N isotopic compositions that are terrestrial within errors (approximately ±50‰ for H, approximately ±9‰ for C, and approximately ±2‰ for N). None of these samples contain micrometer-sized hot spots with anomalous H, C, and N isotopic compositions, unlike previous isotope data for extraterrestrial organic materials, i.e., insoluble organic matters (IOMs) and nano-globules in chondrites, interplanetary dust particles (IDPs), and cometary dust particles. We, therefore, cannot conclude whether these Hayabusa category 3 samples are terrestrial contaminants or extraterrestrial materials because of the H, C, and N isotopic data. A coordinated study using microanalysis techniques including Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), NanoSIMS ion microprobe, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES), and transmission electron microscopy/scanning transmission electron microscopy (TEM/STEM) is required to characterize Hayabusa category 3 samples in more detail for exploring their origin and nature.

H, C, and N isotopes

Ion imaging with NanoSIMS

Hayabusa organic samples

eng

Springer Open

© 2014 Ito et al.; licensee Springer. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.

[ISSN] 1880-5981

[DOI] 10.1186/1880-5981-66-91

[DOI] https://doi.org/10.1186/1880-5981-66-91