Before there were animals, bacteria or even DNA on Earth, self-replicating molecules were slowly evolving their way from simple matter to life beneath a constant shower of energetic particles from […]
astrochemistry
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
Complex Organic Molecules In Low-mass Protostars On Solar System Scales I. Oxygen-bearing Species
Complex organic molecules (COMs) are thought to form on icy dust grains in the earliest phase of star formation. The evolution of these COMs from the youngest Class 0/I protostellar […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
Explaining the Variations in Isotopic Ratios in Meteoritic Amino Acids
Measurements of the isotopic abundances in meteoritic amino acids have found enhancements of 2H/H, 15N/14N, and 13C/12C in the amino acids in the meteorites studied. We show that they are […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
Solar System's Oldest Molecular Fluids Could Hold The Key To Early Life
The oldest molecular fluids in the solar system could have supported the rapid formation and evolution of the building blocks of life, new research in the journal Proceedings of the […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
Petroleum, Coal And Other Organics In Space
The petroleum and coal models of the unidentified infrared emissions (UIE), sometimes referred also as unidentified infrared bands (UIBs) has been reviewed mainly based on the work of the authors […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release
Swift Mission Observed Water from Interstellar Comet Borisov
For the first time, NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory tracked water loss from an interstellar comet as it approached and rounded the Sun. The object, 2I/Borisov, traveled through the solar […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
VENUS: A New Apparatus To Investigate Surface Chemistry Routes Leading To Complex Organic Molecules In Space
A multi-beam ultra-high vacuum apparatus is presented. In this article we describe the design and construction of a new laboratory astrophysics experiment — VErs de NoUvelles Synthèses (VENUS) — that […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release
The Carbon Monoxide-rich Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov
Interstellar comets offer direct samples of volatiles from distant protoplanetary disks. 2I/Borisov is the first notably active interstellar comet discovered in our solar system[1]. Comets are condensed samples of the […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
CAB: Towards The RNA-world In The Interstellar Medium: Detection Of Urea, And Search Of 2-amino-oxazole And Simple Sugars
In the past decade, Astrochemistry has witnessed an impressive increase in the number of detections of complex organic molecules. Some of these species are of prebiotic interest such as glycolaldehyde, […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
Hydrogenated Fullerenes (Fulleranes) in Space
Since the first laboratory synthesis of C60 in 1985, fullerene-related species have been proposed to interpret various astronomical features. After more than 25 years’ efforts, several circumstellar and interstellar features […]