New Insights into Solar System's C-N-O Abundances from Recent Research

Recent research by Ngoc Truong, Christopher R. Glein, and Jonathan I. Lunine has revealed significant findings regarding the chemical composition of the solar system, particularly concerning carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen (C-N-O) abundances. The paper titled "A broad set of solar and cosmochemical data indicates high C-N-O abundances for the solar system" was submitted on September 3, 2024, and is available on arXiv.

The study utilizes data from Rosetta measurements of refractory organics found in comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The authors argue that these organics constitute a substantial portion of the protosolar carbon inventory in the Kuiper Belt region. However, they also highlight a critical inconsistency: the amount of oxygen released from these organics would be too high to allow for the formation of sufficient water ice. This discrepancy raises questions about the rock-rich composition necessary to explain the uncompressed density of the Pluto-Charon system and other large Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs).

The authors further discuss the implications of their findings on the ongoing solar abundances problem, which involves reconciling spectroscopically determined heavy element abundances with constraints from helioseismology. They present new datasets from solar CNO neutrinos and solar wind measurements that could help address these inconsistencies.

The findings of this research are significant as they contribute to our understanding of the solar system's formation and the chemical processes that shaped it. The predictions made in the study can be tested through future neutrino, helioseismology, and cosmochemical measurements, potentially leading to a deeper insight into the origins of our solar system's composition.