Since its detection in 2014, the brown dwarf known as WISE 0855 has fascinated astronomers. Only 7.2 light-years from Earth, it is the coldest known object outside of our solar […]
Astrochemistry
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release, Titan
Hydrogen Cyanide Linked To Potential Prebiotic Conditions on Titan
NASA’s Cassini and Huygen’s missions have provided a wealth of data about chemical elements found on Saturn’s moon Titan, and Cornell scientists have uncovered a chemical trail that suggests prebiotic […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
Rotating Ring of Complex Organic Molecules Discovered Around Newborn Star
Astronomers have long known that organic molecules form in diffuse gas clouds floating between stars. It is thought that as the Solar System formed 4.6 billion years ago, some of […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
Discovery of the Interstellar Chiral Molecule Propylene Oxide (CH3CHCH2O)
Life on Earth relies on chiral molecules, that is, species not superimposable on their mirror images. This manifests itself in the selection of a single molecular handedness, or homochirality, across […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
First Detection of Methyl Alcohol in a Planet-forming Disc
The organic molecule methyl alcohol (methanol) has been found by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in the TW Hydrae protoplanetary disc. This is the first such detection of the […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
Prebiotic Molecule Detected in Interstellar Cloud
Chiral molecules — compounds that come in otherwise identical mirror image variations, like a pair of human hands — are crucial to life as we know it. Living things are […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Comets and Asteroids, Press Release
Rosetta's Comet Contains Ingredients For The Origin of Life
Ingredients regarded as crucial for the origin of life on Earth have been discovered at the comet that ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft has been probing for almost two years. They include […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Press Release
Nitrogen Abundances in Stars with Planets
Carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen (CNO) are key elements in stellar formation and evolution, and their abundances should also have a significant impact on planetary formation and evolution. We present a […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
First Detections of Deuterated Formamide and Deuterated Isocyanic acid in the Interstellar Medium
Formamide (NH2CHO) has previously been detected in several star-forming regions and is thought to be a precursor for different prebiotic molecules. Its formation mechanism is still debated, however. Observations of […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
Observations of a Possible Glycine Precursor, Methanimine (CH2NH)
We conducted survey observations of a glycine precursor, methanimine or methylenimine (CH2NH), with the NRO 45 m telescope and the SMT telescope towards 12 high-mass and two low-mass star-forming regions […]