Recent replenishment of aliphatic organics on Ceres from a large subsurface reservoir

Ceres hosts significant aliphatic-organic concentrations, ranging from approximately 5 wt.% to >30 wt.% in specific surface areas. The origins and persistence of these organics are under debate due to the intense aliphatic signature and radiation levels in Ceres' orbit, which would typically lead to their destruction, hindering detection. To investigate this, we conducted laboratory experiments to replicate how the signature of the organic-rich regions would degrade due to radiation. Our findings indicate a fast degradation rate, implying the exposure of buried organics within the last few million years. This degradation rate, coupled with observed quantities, implies that the aliphatics must be present in substantial quantities within the shallow subsurface. Our estimates suggest an initial aliphatic abundance 2-30 times greater than currently observed, surpassing significantly the levels found in carbonaceous chondrites, indicating either a significant concentration or remarkable p..., The data set show the modification of the 3.4 micron band under the influence of different energetic sources. the experiments have been conducted at INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania (Italy); INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri (Italy) and INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Napoli(Italy)
 , , # Recent replenishment of aliphatic organics on Ceres from a large subsurface reservoir

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.cnp5hqcdd](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.cnp5hqcdd)

Data set of figures of the article.

## Description of the data and file structure

Text files (ascii) in table form with the physical units in the first line of the table.

Data fig.1: Spectrum of aliphatic rich pixels compared with an average spectrum of the Ernutet region taken by the VIR spectrometer.

Data in Fig.2 :  Energetic ion irradiation experiments were performed at INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania (Italy). Three analogs in the form of compact pellets (named CU-1, CU-2, and CU-3) were irradiated under high vacuum at room temperature by 200 keV He+, N+, and H+ ions respectively. At selected fluences, samples were removed from the irradiation chamber and analised by means of diffuse reflectance IR spectroscopy at room pressure and temperature (see Material and Methods section). The data shows th...