Astrochemistry: September 2015

In two recently published articles researchers from Instituto de Astrofsica e Cincias do Espao (IA3) show that the ratio of some heavy elements in a star, like Magnesium (Mg), Silicon (Si) and Iron (Fe), have a crucial influence in the composition of rocky exoplanets.

The search for habitable exoplanets in the Universe is actively ongoing in the field of astronomy. The biggest future milestone is to determine whether life exists on such habitable exoplanets.

The Earth's atmosphere contains oxygen because plants continuously produce it through photosynthesis. This abundant supply of oxygen allows life forms like animals to flourish.

It is well known that newly formed planetary systems undergo processes of orbital reconfiguration and planetary migration.

We report on the tentative detection of trans Ethyl Methyl Ether (tEME), t−CH₃CH₂OCH₃, through the identification of a large number of rotational lines from each one of the spin states of the molecule towards Orion KL.