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Science 11 August 1978:
Vol. 201. no. 4355, pp. 522 - 525
DOI: 10.1126/science.201.4355.522
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Articles

Interstellar Cloud Material: Contribution to Planetary Atmospheres

DIXON M. BUTLER 1, MICHAEL J. NEWMAN 2, and RAYMOND J. TALBOT JR. 3

1 Laboratory for Planetary Atmospheres, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771
2 W. K. Kellogg Radiation Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena 91125
3 Department of Space Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77001

A statistical analysis of the properties of dense interstellar clouds indicates that the solar system has encountered at least a dozen clouds of sufficient density to cause planets to accumulate nonnegligible amounts of some isotopes. The effect is most pronounced for neon. This mechanism could be responsible for much of the neon in Earth's atmosphere. For Mars, the predicted amount of neon added by cloud encounters greatly exceeds the present abundance.

Submitted on May 23, 1977
Revised on April 18, 1978

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)