(abstract) The Distribution of Carbon in the Outer Solar System: New Constraints on Planetary Formation Mechanisms from Groundbased Spectroscopic Observations of Uranus and Neptune

Abstract

New limits on the methane mixing ratio within the well-mixed tropospheres of Uranus and Neptune place significant constraints on planetary formation mechanisms within the outer solar system. Our results support the conclusion of other researchers that a nontrivial amount of methane in the outer solar system was incorporated into the planets by dissolution of carbon-bearing planetesimals during the early evolutionary stages of both Uranus and Neptune.