Interstellar Archives

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Commercial & Private Sector, Interstellar, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Press Release

Extraterrestrial Chemistry With Earthbound Possibilities

by Keith CowingAugust 21, 2024August 21, 2024

Who are we? Why are we here? As the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song suggests, we are stardust, the result of chemistry occurring throughout vast clouds of interstellar gas […]

Left part: a schematic view of the ISEAge UHV setup. The IR beam path is shown with red. The T-shaped optical holder with the Ge window is shown with green. The direction of molecular species injection is shown with arrow. Cad models are taken from Kurt J. Lesker cataloguea . The radiation shield is omitted for clarity. Right part: a typical image of Ge window surface obtained with the scanning-probe microscope for the 10x10 µm area. The colour scheme indicates the registered peak to valley height from the lowest point (dark brown) to the highest point (light yellow) in nm. --- astro-ph.GA

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

Infrared Spectra of Solid HCN Embedded in Various Molecular Environments for Comparison with the Data Obtained with JWST

by Keith CowingAugust 18, 2024August 17, 2024

HCN molecules serve as an important tracer for chemical evolution of elemental nitrogen in the regions of star and planet formation. This is largely explained by the fact that N […]

Recall of molecules identified in OrionKL-GBT. Red and blue bars illustrate the results using the peak matching and χ 2 loss functions respectively. The recall, the number of matched lines, and the number of relevant lines are indicated on top of each bar. Refer to Section 4.1 for the definition of recall. -- astro-ph.GA

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

Spectuner: A Framework For Automated Line Identification Of Interstellar Molecules

by Keith CowingAugust 15, 2024August 15, 2024

Interstellar molecules, which play an important role in astrochemistry, are identified using observed spectral lines.

Structures of all the target molecules considered in this work. -- astro-ph.GA

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Where Have All the Sulfur Atoms Gone? Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon as a Possible Sink for the Missing Sulfur in the Interstellar Medium. I. The C–S Band Strengths

by Keith CowingAugust 13, 2024August 13, 2024

Despite its biogeneic and astrochemical importance, sulfur (S), the 10th most abundant element in the interstellar medium (ISM) with a total abundance of S/H~2.2E-5, largely remains undetected in molecular clouds.

H2 number density (left) and gas temperature (right) in the adopted physical structure for the HOPS-370 disk based on modeling by Tobin et al. (2020a). The contours in the left panel start at 5 × 108 cm−3 (white) and increase by 1 dex per contour. The (vertically isothermal) contours in the right-hand panel show the gas temperature at different radii in the disk. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

Observations Of Low-mass Protostellar Systems Show Evidence Of Rich Complex Organic Chemistry.

by Keith CowingAugust 11, 2024August 10, 2024

Observations of low-mass protostellar systems show evidence of rich complex organic chemistry. Their low luminosity, however, makes determining abundance distributions of complex organic molecules (COMs) within the water snowline challenging.

Astrochemistry, Astropharmacy / Biotechnology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

The Rich Interstellar Reservoir Of Dinitriles: Detection of Malononitrile and Maleonitrile in TMC-1

by Keith CowingAugust 9, 2024August 9, 2024

While the nitrile group is by far the most prevalent one among interstellar molecules, the existence of interstellar dinitriles (molecules containing two -CN groups) has recently been proven. Here we […]

Infrared data that confirms the formation of OCS from CO, H2S, and H atoms. Panel a): Spectrum collected after deposition of CO+H2S+H (experiment 1, red) together with the control experiment without H atoms (experiment 2, grey) and the isotope-labeled experiment with 13C 18O (experiment 3, blue). Small features assigned to 13CO and 12CO are due to minor contaminations from the gas bottle (respectively, ∼ 4% and ∼ 2% with respect to 13C 18O). Panel b): Infrared spectra acquired during TPD following the deposition of experiment 1. The spectrum in dark red (upper) is taken at ∼70 K, and the one in light red (lower) is taken at ∼100 K. Panel c): Same as panel b), but for the isotope-labeled experiment. In all panels only the relevant frequency range is shown and the spectra are offset for clarity. -- astro-ph.GA

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

Formation Of Carbonyl Sulfide (OCS) via SH Radicals In Interstellar CO-rich Ice Under Dense Cloud Conditions

by Keith CowingAugust 9, 2024August 9, 2024

Carbonyl sulfide (OCS) is widely observed in the gas phase towards star-forming regions and was the first of the only two sulfur-bearing species detected in interstellar ices so far. However, […]

Conceptual image of an exoplanet with an advanced extraterrestrial civilization. Structures on the right are orbiting solar panel arrays that harvest light from the parent star and convert it into electricity that is then beamed to the surface via microwaves. The exoplanet on the left illustrates other potential technosignatures: city lights (glowing circular structures) on the night side and multi-colored clouds on the day side that represent various forms of pollution, such as nitrogen dioxide gas from burning fossil fuels or chlorofluorocarbons used in refrigeration. NASA/Jay Freidlander

Astronomy & Telescopes, Intelligence & Language, Interstellar, Press Release, SETI & Technosignatures

Why We Might Not Spot Solar Panel Technosignatures On Other Worlds

by Keith CowingAugust 3, 2024August 3, 2024

One of NASA’s key priorities is understanding the potential for life elsewhere in the universe. NASA has not found any credible evidence of extraterrestrial life — but NASA is exploring […]

Overview of the ALMA spectra (the continuum spectral window from 333.78 to 335.65 GHz; top panel) and JWST/MIRIMRS spectra (bottom panel) of NGC 1333 IRAS 2A and B1-c. The JWST spectrum of IRAS 2A between 8.85 and 11.7 µm was binned by a factor of 10 for better visualization. In the bottom panel, the fingerprint ranges of COM ices between 6.8 and 8.8 µm are highlight in orange. Important emission lines in the ALMA spectra and absorption bands in the JWST spectra are labelled in each panel. -- astro-ph.GA

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

JOYS+: Link Between Ice And Gas Of Complex Organic Molecules. Comparing JWST and ALMA Data of Two Low-mass Protostars

by Keith CowingJuly 31, 2024July 31, 2024

A rich inventory of complex organic molecules (COMs) has been observed in high abundances in the gas phase toward Class 0 protostars. These molecules are suggested to be formed in […]

Integrated MIRI spectrum of HH 48 NE. The continuum baseline underneath the gas emission lines is shown as a black line. Gas features are labeled accordingly, molecular and recombination hydrogen lines are marked with colored tick marks. Absorption wavelength regions for important ices are marked on the bottom. Spitzer photometric data points are shown in red. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

A JWST/MIRI Aanalysis Of The Ice Distribution And PAH Emission In The Protoplanetary Disk HH 48 NE

by Keith CowingJuly 31, 2024July 31, 2024

Ice-coated dust grains provide the main reservoir of volatiles that play an important role in planet formation processes and may become incorporated into planetary atmospheres.

Interstellar

Extraterrestrial Chemistry With Earthbound Possibilities

Infrared Spectra of Solid HCN Embedded in Various Molecular Environments for Comparison with the Data Obtained with JWST

Spectuner: A Framework For Automated Line Identification Of Interstellar Molecules

Where Have All the Sulfur Atoms Gone? Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon as a Possible Sink for the Missing Sulfur in the Interstellar Medium. I. The C–S Band Strengths

Observations Of Low-mass Protostellar Systems Show Evidence Of Rich Complex Organic Chemistry.

The Rich Interstellar Reservoir Of Dinitriles: Detection of Malononitrile and Maleonitrile in TMC-1

Formation Of Carbonyl Sulfide (OCS) via SH Radicals In Interstellar CO-rich Ice Under Dense Cloud Conditions

Why We Might Not Spot Solar Panel Technosignatures On Other Worlds

JOYS+: Link Between Ice And Gas Of Complex Organic Molecules. Comparing JWST and ALMA Data of Two Low-mass Protostars

A JWST/MIRI Aanalysis Of The Ice Distribution And PAH Emission In The Protoplanetary Disk HH 48 NE

Relevance of the Avalon Assemblage as an Astrobiological Analog for Icy Ocean Worlds

The Climate and Potential Habitability of a Warm and Oxygenated Mars

Variable X-ray flux May Explain Variable Helium Escape From The Habitable-zone Exoplanet LHS 1140b

Spacetime Contactability in Galactic Civilization Networks: Contact Counts and Percolation

Surprisingly Enriched CO and CH4 in Halley-type Comet 13P/Olbers: Clues to Its Interstellar Heritage