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ESA/Webb/NASA/CSA/W. Rocha et al/ESA/Webb/ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, W. Rocha et
The James Webb Space Telescope’s mid-infrared instrument captured an image of a region parallel to the massive protostar known as IRAS 23385. The protostar is not visible in this image.
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Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have detected common chemical ingredients found in vinegar, ant bites and even daisies around two young stars, according to POT.
The complex organic molecules they observed using the space observatory’s mid-infrared instrument included acetic acid, a component of vinegar, and ethanol, also known as alcohol.
The team also found single molecules of formic acid, which causes the burning sensation associated with ant bites, as well as sulfur dioxide, methane and formaldehyde. Scientists believe that sulfur compounds such as sulfur dioxide could have played a key role on the early Earth that eventually paved the way for the formation of life.
The newly detected molecules were detected as icy compounds surrounding IRAS 2A and IRAS 23385, which are two protostars, or stars so young that they have not yet formed planets. stars They form from swirling clouds of gas and dust.and the leftover material from star formation gives rise to planets.
The protostar IRAS 23385 is estimated to be 15,981 light years from Earth in the Milky Way, according to previous research.
The new observation intrigues astronomers because the molecules detected around stars could be crucial ingredients for potentially habitable worlds, and those ingredients could be incorporated into planets that will likely eventually form around stars.
Space is full of heavy metals and elements and chemical compounds that have been created and released by stellar explosions over time. In turn, the chemical elements are incorporated into the clouds that form the next generation of stars and planets.
On Earth, the right combination of elements allowed life to form and as famous astronomer Carl Sagan once said: “We are made of star stuff.But astronomers have long questioned how common the elements necessary for life are throughout the cosmos.
Previously, scientists using Webb discovered types of Ice made of different elements in a cold, dark molecular cloud., an interstellar accumulation of gas and dust where hydrogen and carbon monoxide molecules can form. The dense clumps within these clouds can collapse to form protostars.
The detection of complex organic molecules in space is helping astronomers determine the origins of the molecules, as well as those of other larger cosmic molecules.
NASA/ESA/CSA/L. hustak
Webb’s detections revealed simple and complex molecules that could be used to form potentially habitable worlds.
Scientists believe that complex organic molecules are created by sublimation of ice in space, or the process in which a solid changes to a gas without first becoming a liquid, and Webb’s new detection adds evidence to that theory.
“This finding contributes to one of the long-standing questions in astrochemistry,” Will Rocha, team leader of the James Webb Young ProtoStars Observations program and a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University in the Netherlands, said in a statement. “What is the origin of complex organic molecules, or COMs, in space? Are they made in the gas phase or in ice? “The detection of COM in ice suggests that solid-phase chemical reactions on the surfaces of cold dust grains can generate complex types of molecules.”
A study detailing the new protostar findings has been accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Understanding the shape that complex organic molecules take can help astronomers better understand the ways in which molecules are incorporated into planets. Complex organic molecules trapped in cold ices can eventually become part of comets or asteroids, which collide with planets and essentially deliver ingredients that could sustain life.
Chemicals found around protostars may reflect the early history of our solar system, allowing astronomers a way to remember what was present when the Sun and the planets orbiting it, including Earth, were forming.
“All of these molecules can become part of comets and asteroids and, eventually, new planetary systems when icy material is transported into the planet-forming disk as the protostellar system evolves,” said study co-author Ewine. van Dishoeck, professor of molecular astrophysics in Leiden. University, in a statement. “We hope to follow this astrochemical trail step by step with more data from Webb in the coming years.”
The team has dedicated the results of their research to study co-author Harold Linnartz, who died unexpectedly in December, shortly after the paper was accepted for publication.
Linnartz, who headed the Leiden Astrophysics Laboratory and coordinated the measurements used in the study, was a “world leader in laboratory studies of gaseous and icy molecules in interstellar space,” according to a statement from Leiden University.
He was reportedly delighted with the data Webb was able to capture and what the findings could mean for research in astrochemistry.
“Harold was especially pleased that the COM Task Lab work could play an important role, as it has taken a long time to get here,” said van Dishoeck.