Perseus Molecular Cloud Archives - Astrobiology

Herschel H2 column density map (Sadavoy et al. 2012) of Perseus starless and prestellar cores. Labeled in magenta are the locations and names of the 15 starless and prestellar cores analyzed. The star-forming regions within Perseus are denoted in black.-- [astro-ph.GA]

Inventories of Rich Carbon-Chain Chemistry in Prestellar and Starless Cores in the Perseus Molecular Cloud

by Keith CowingAugust 8, 2026August 8, 2026

[astro-ph.GA] Carbon-chain molecules serve as an important reservoir of reactive organic matter that will eventually be incorporated into protoplanetary disks, planets, and cometary material. Prestellar and starless cores are composed […]

NASA’s SPHEREx mission will survey the Milky Way galaxy looking for water ice and other key ingredients for life. In the search for these frozen compounds, the mission will focus on molecular clouds — collections of gas and dust in space — like this one imaged by the agency’s James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

SPHEREx Space Telescope Will Seek Life’s Ingredients

by Keith CowingFebruary 13, 2025February 13, 2025

Where is all the water that may form oceans on distant planets and moons? The SPHEREx astrophysics mission will search the galaxy and take stock.

New image from the James Webb Space Telescope spectroscopic survey of NGC1333. CREDIT ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Scholz, K. Muzic, A. Langeveld, R. Jayawardhana larger image

Astronomy & Telescopes, Brown Dwarfs, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release, Stellar Cartography

In Six New Rogue Worlds, Webb Telescope Finds More Star Birth Clues

by Keith CowingAugust 28, 2024August 27, 2024

The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted six likely rogue worlds—objects with planetlike masses but untethered from any star’s gravity—including the lightest ever identified with a dusty disk around it.

Perseus Molecular Cloud H2 column density map from Herschel (Sadavoy et al. 2012; Pezzuto et al. 2012; Sadavoy et al. 2014). Overplotted are the numbered starless and prestellar cores observed (pink, gold and orange points) and those underlined in gold have had successful ARO 12m CH3CHO detections at the 𝜎𝑇mb = 6 mK level and were followed up with the Yebes 40m telescope. Cores 67 and 658 are italicized and labeled in blue, denoting these are the cores that were followed up with additional ARO 12m observations probing down to 𝜎𝑇mb = 2.5 mK. The remaining starless and prestellar cores are in magenta. In all cores CH3OH has been detected. For comparison, in green are the locations of the 27 protostars from the PEACHES sample with CH3OH detections (see their Table 5 in Yang et al. 2021). The apparent overlap in sources is a projection effect, as seen from the zoom-in insert panels for regions IC348 and NGC1333. The size of the starless and prestellar core circles are at a FWHM of 62 arcsec. -- astro-ph.SR

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

Survey of Complex Organic Molecules in Starless and Prestellar Cores in the Perseus Molecular Cloud

by Keith CowingAugust 22, 2024August 22, 2024

Cold (∼10 K) and dense (∼105 cm−3) cores of gas and dust within molecular clouds, known as starless and dynamically evolved prestellar cores, are the birthplaces of low-mass (M ≤ […]

The amino acid Tryptophan -- Wikipedia

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Origin & Evolution of Life, Panspermia, Status Report

On The Origin Of Infrared Bands Attributed To Tryptophan In Spitzer Observations Of IC 348

by Keith CowingMay 28, 2024May 28, 2024

Infrared emission features toward interstellar gas of the IC 348 star cluster in Perseus have been recently proposed to originate from the amino acid tryptophan.

Artistic composition of a “soup” of prebiotic molecules around a protoplanetary disc. CREDIT Gabriel Pérez Díaz (IAC)

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

Molecular Precursors To Life Discovered In The Perseus Cloud

by Keith CowingApril 4, 2023April 4, 2023

The scientists Susan Iglesias-Groth, of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and Martina Marín-Dobrincicof the Polytechnic University of Cartagena have discovered the presence of numerous prebiotic molecules in the […]