Since the orbital insertion of the Rosetta spacecraft, comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P/C-G) has been mapped by OSIRIS camera and VIRTIS spectro-imager, producing a huge quantity of images and spectra of the […]
astrochemistry
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
Formation of Ethylene Glycol and Other Complex Organic Molecules in Star-forming Regions
We study the molecular abundance and spatial distribution of the simplest sugar alcohol, ethylene glycol (EG), the simplest sugar glycoladehyde (GA), and other chemically related complex organic species towards the […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
Search for HOOH in Orion
The abundance of key molecules determines the level of cooling that is necessary for the formation of stars and planetary systems. In this context, one needs to understand the details […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Comets and Asteroids, Press Release
Ice Grain Collisions in Comparison: CO2, H2O and their Mixtures
Collisions of ice particles play an important role in the formation of planetesimals and comets. In recent work we showed, that CO2 ice behaves like silicates in collisions. The resulting […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
Exploring Molecular Complexity with ALMA
Over the past five decades, radio astronomy has shown that molecular complexity is a natural outcome of interstellar chemistry, in particular in star forming regions. However, the pathways that lead […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Press Release
Habitable Planet Catalog
Looking for another Earth? An international team of researchers has pinpointed which of the more than 4,000 exoplanets discovered by NASA’s Kepler mission are most likely to be similar to […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
Detection Of Key Prebiotic Molecule PO in Star-forming Regions
Phosphorus is a crucial element in biochemistry, especially the P-O bond, which is key for the formation of the backbone of the deoxyribonucleic acid. So far, PO has only been […]
Posted inAstrochemistry
Chemical Enrichment of the Pre-Solar Cloud by Supernova Dust Grains
The presence of short-lived radioisotopes (SLRs) in solar system meteorites has been interpreted as evidence that the solar system was exposed to a supernova shortly before or during its formation. […]
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 […]