The desorption of CO ice induced by ultraviolet (UV) radiation is a phenomenon that occurs in some cold parts of the universe, which has often also been replicated in laboratory settings. While this phenomenon is now well-documented, ...
Scientists studying a nearby protostar have detected the presence of water in its circumstellar disk. The new observations made with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) mark the first detection of water ...
Planetary Sciences
Mar 8, 2023
0
109
Every so often, the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud throw galactic snowballs made up of ice, dust and rocks our way: 4.6-billion-year-old leftovers from the formation of the solar system.
Astronomy
Dec 20, 2021
4
1220
Much of the carbon in space is believed to exist in the form of large molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Since the 1980s, circumstantial evidence has indicated that these molecules are abundant in space, ...
Astronomy
Mar 18, 2021
13
936
The interstellar medium and combustion systems contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as fundamental molecular building blocks that form fullerenes and carbonaceous nanostructures. However, researchers have yet to ...
Scientists have long been puzzled by the existence of so-called "buckyballs"—complex carbon molecules with a soccer-ball-like structure—throughout interstellar space. Now, a team of researchers from the University of ...
Astronomy
Nov 13, 2019
1
2167
Astrophysicists know that iron (chemical symbol: Fe) is one of the most abundant elements in the universe, after lightweight elements such as hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen. Iron is most commonly found in gaseous form in stars ...
Astronomy
Jul 9, 2019
28
622
Scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have confirmed the presence of electrically-charged molecules in space shaped like soccer balls, shedding light on the mysterious contents of the interstellar medium (ISM) - ...
Astronomy
Jun 25, 2019
104
22
Astronomers had a mystery on their hands. No matter where they looked, from inside the Milky Way to distant galaxies, they observed a puzzling glow of infrared light. This faint cosmic light, which presents itself as a series ...
Astronomy
Jan 11, 2018
0
140
Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have detected the faint molecular fingerprint of methyl chloride - a chemical commonly produced by industrial and biological processes here on Earth ...
Astronomy
Oct 2, 2017
0
286
