An Observational Test for Shock-induced Crystallization of Cometary Silicates

Abstract

Crystalline silicates have been observed in comets and in protostellar nebulae, and there are currently at least two explanations for their formation: thermal annealing in the inner nebula, followed by transport to the regions of cometary formation and in-situ shock processing of amorphous grains at 5 - 10 AU in the Solar Nebula. The tests suggested to date to validate these models have not yet been carried out: some of these tests require a longterm commitment to observe both the dust and gas compositions in a large number of comets. Here we suggest a simpler test.