VUV Spectroscopy of Extraterrestrial Ices

Astrochemistry is the study of chemical processes under those conditions prevalent in astronomical environments. Due to the temperatures found in many astrophysical environments much of this chemistry is heterogeneous chemistry occurring within icy mantles found on planetary surfaces, within comets and on dust grains in the interstellar medium. The physical properties and chemical reactivity of such icy surfaces depends upon its morphology. Thus it is necessary to explore how the morphology of astrochemical ices is influenced by their local environment (e.g. temperature and pressure) and the mechanisms by which they are processed. In this paper we briefly review the results of a series of experiments to explore the morphology of a variety of molecular ices using VUV spectroscopy. Several spectral features are reported that may be used to identify the morphology of astrochemical ices using remote sensing techniques.