Recently published space-based observations of main-belt asteroids with the AKARI telescope provide a full description of the 3 um band, related to the presence of OH bearing minerals. Here, we […]
astrochemistry
Posted inAstrochemistry
A Key Building Block Of Life May Have Arrived From Deep Space
Pyruvic acid–a key molecule involved in the synthesis of compounds such as amino acids (often referred to as the “building blocks of life”)–can be produced in deep space, according to […]
Posted inAstrochemistry
Comets Had Impact In The Start Of Life On Earth
The “Big Bang” may have started the universe but it’s likely that littler bangs played a key role in life on Earth, say Albion College physics professor Nicolle Zellner and […]
Posted inMeteorites & Asteroids
The Hamburg Meteorite Contains Pristine Extraterrestrial Organic Compounds
In the night of January 16, 2018, a fireball meteor streaked across the sky over the Midwest and Ontario before landing on a frozen lake in Michigan. Scientists used weather […]
Posted inTitan
NASA Scientists Discover 'Weird' Molecule in Titan's Atmosphere
NASA scientists identified a molecule in Titan’s atmosphere that has never been detected in any other atmosphere. In fact, many chemists have probably barely heard of it or know how […]
Posted inAstrochemistry
Coexistence Of CH4, CO2 And H2O In Exoplanet Atmospheres
We propose a classification of exoplanet atmospheres based on their H, C, O, N element abundances below about 600 K. Chemical equilibrium models were run for all combinations of H, […]
Posted inAstrochemistry
Methanimine As A key Precursor Of Aimines In The Interstellar Medium: The Case Of Propargylimine
A gas-phase formation route is proposed for the recently detected propargylimine molecule. In analogy to other imines, such as cyanomethanimine, the addition of a reactive radical (C2H in the present […]
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
Prebiotic Chemistry – In The Beginning, There Was Sugar
Organic molecules formed the basis for the evolution of life. But how could inorganic precursors have given rise to them? Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich chemist Oliver Trapp now reports a […]
Posted inAstrochemistry
Machine-learning Prediction Of Infrared Spectra Of Interstellar Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
We design and train a neural network (NN) model to efficiently predict the infrared spectra of interstellar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with a computational cost many orders of magnitude lower […]
Posted inAstrochemistry
Observations Of The Onset Of Complex Organic Molecule Formation In Interstellar Ices
Isolated dense molecular cores are investigated to study the onset of complex organic molecule formation in interstellar ice. Sampling three cores with ongoing formation of low-mass stars (B59, B335, and […]