Methyl acetate (CH_3COOCH_3) has been recently observed by IRAM 30 m radio telescope in Orion though the presence of its deuterated isotopomers is yet to be confirmed. We therefore study […]
Astrochemistry
Posted inAstrochemistry
Searching for Interstellar Adenine
It is long debated if pre-biotic molecules are indeed present in the interstellar medium. Despite substantial works pointing to their existence, pre-biotic molecules are yet to be discovered with a […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
Complex Organic Molecules Discovered in Infant Star System
For the first time, astronomers have detected the presence of complex organic molecules, the building blocks of life, in a protoplanetary disk surrounding a young star, indicating that the conditions […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Press Release
Detecting Biospheres from Thermodynamic Disequilibrium in Planetary Atmospheres
Atmospheric chemical disequilibrium has been proposed as a method for detecting extraterrestrial biospheres from exoplanet observations. Chemical disequilibrium is potentially a generalized biosignature since it makes no assumptions about particular […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release, tau Ceti
Chemical Composition of tau Ceti and Possible Effects on Terrestrial Planets
tau Ceti (HD10700), a G8 dwarf with solar mass of 0.78, is a close (3.65 pc) sun-like star where 5 possibly terrestrial planet candidates (minimum masses of 2, 3.1, 3.5, […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
Top-down Formation of Fullerenes in the Interstellar Medium
Fullerenes have been recently detected in various circumstellar and interstellar environments, raising the question of their formation pathway. It has been proposed that they can form by the photo-chemical processing […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release
Water, Methane and Carbon Monoxide in the Atmosphere of Exoplanet HR8799b
Absorption lines from water, methane and carbon monoxide are detected in the atmosphere of exoplanet HR8799b. A medium-resolution spectrum presented here shows well-resolved and easily identified spectral features from all […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Mars, Press Release
Glycine in Solid CO2: Relevance to Mars
The detection of biologically important, organic molecules on Mars is an important goal that may soon be reached. However, the current small number of organic detections at the Martian surface […]
Posted inAstrochemistry
Volatile Delivery to Planets from Water-rich Planetesimals around Low Mass Stars
Most models of volatile delivery to accreting terrestrial planets assume that the carriers for water are similar in water content to the carbonaceous chondrites in our Solar System. chondrites have […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
Reproducing the Building Blocks of Life in Laboratory
NASA scientists studying the origin of life have reproduced uracil, cytosine, and thymine, three key components of our hereditary material, in the laboratory. They discovered that an ice sample containing […]