Table 1 UV irradiation experiments of organics at the most relevant wavelengths.

From: Low effective ultraviolet exposure ages for organics at the surface of Enceladus

Ref.

Organic

Photons (nm)

Location

Temp.

Half life at 1 AU

Half life at 9.5 AU (yrs)a

Notes

59

Glycine

Solar >115 nm

Earth Orbit

232 to 289 K

3.7-7.0

0.9–1.7

No ice and with warm temps (and some loss observed in dark controls)

Aspartic

1.0-2.2

0.3–0.6

Glutamic

1.1-1.4

0.3

Tyrosine

3.0-7.0

0.7–1.7

22

Glycine

130-300/330

Laboratory

100 K

181-235

45−60

Europa thick ice sim.

Aspartic

77-84

19–21

Glutamic

84-92

21–23

Phenylalanine

61-29b

15-8b

Converts to tyrosinec

30

Glycine

Solar >115 nm

Earth Orbit

251 to 303 K

8

2

No ice and with warm temps

Adenine

>41

>10

Guanine

>41

>10

Xanthine

16

4.0

Hypoxanthine

>41

>10

Urea

>41

>10

PolyC3O2

6

1.5

PolyHCN

10.0

2.5

15

Glycine

147, 206, 254

Laboratory

18 K

38

9.4

Europa sim. using Ar-ice

Phenylalanine

13.8

3.4

Converts to tyrosinec

21

Glycine

200-450

Laboratory

Up to 313 K

115−129

28-32

No ice and with warm temps

Alanine

92-115

23-28

2-Aminoisobutyric

112-330

28-82

2-Aminobutyric

70-78

17-19

Valine

70-74

17-18

Aspartic

29-68

7.2-17

Dileucine

<15

<3.7

Glycine

Solar >115 nm

Earth Orbit

Up to 313 K

178-390

44-96

Alanine

97-261

24-64

2-Aminoisobutyric

115-285

28-71

2-Aminobutyric

97-285

24-71

Valine

97-390

24-96

Aspartic

27-97

7-24

Dileucine

<15

<3.7

  1. aFor studies not at 1 AU, results were extrapolated to 1 AU and then to 9.5 AU. Half-lives for 9.5 AU taken to be 90.25 times 1 AU half-lives. For59, low and high half-lives calculated assuming first order kinetics from concentrations remaining ± one standard error of each light and dark experiment added in quadrature. For22, lower half-lives were calculated using the thinnest ice experiments reported in their Table 2 and the higher half-lives use timescales for 50% decomposition penetrating to 1 m depth at Europa (reported in their Table 3), converted to 1 AU. In ref. 15, the half-lives reported for each wavelength were combined into one decay.
  2. bIn ref. 22, the phenylalanine half lives using the thinnest ices shows a longer timescale than the modeled result reported in their Table 3.
  3. cSee Ref. 29.