Sagittarius B2 (Sgr B2) Archives - Astrobiology

Two-dimensional intensity map of the time-dependent mass spectrum of the reaction of C3H6O+ with NH3. The reactant ion C3H6O+ appears at m/z = 58 and the primary product ion NH3 + appears at m/z = 17. Minor secondary products are observed at m/z = 34, 60, 75, and 90. The plot was made was collecting mass spectra at trapping times ranging from 100 ms to 2700 ms in 200 ms intervals. The plot also includes the mass spectra collected at the trapping time of 50 ms. -- astro-ph.GA

Charge Transfer From Ammonia Neutralizes Propylene Oxide Cations: Implications For The Astrochemistry Of Chiral Molecules

by Keith CowingJuly 2, 2026July 2, 2026

[astro-ph.GA] To date only one chiral species, propylene oxide, has been observed in the interstellar medium but little is known about the chemistry that leads to a detectable abundance of […]

Evidence for the formation of two-center one-electron (2c–1e) bonds in the predissociation complexes of the radical cations in ethanolamine (A), propanol (B), butanenitrile (C), and glycolamide (D). The ELF basins are shown in the left column, the projections into the heavy atom planes are shown in the second column, the spin densities for the unpaired electrons are shown in the third column, and the 2c–1e AdNDP orbitals are shown in the right column. -- Chemical Science

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

What Drives The Formation Of Unsaturated Molecules In The Interstellar Medium?

by Keith CowingJanuary 20, 2025January 19, 2025

We present a computational investigation into the fragmentation pathways of ethanolamine (C2H7NO, EtA), propanol (C3H8O, PrO), butanenitrile (C4H7N, BuN), and glycolamide (C2H5NO2, GlA)—saturated organic molecules detected in the interstellar medium […]

The Galactic Centre and Sagittarius B2, ESO larger image

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release, Stellar Cartography

How Sweet Is the Milky Way? UM Astrochemist Is Helping Find Out

by Keith CowingSeptember 27, 2024September 27, 2024

Astrochemist Ryan Fortenberry, UM associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, collaborated with Ralf Kaiser, of the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, to study the creation of a simple sugar acid […]

Selection of rotational transitions of CH317OH covered by the ReMoCA survey. The LTE synthetic spectrum of CH317OH used to derive its column density toward Sgr B2(N2b) is displayed in red and overlaid on the observed spectrum shown in black. The blue synthetic spectrum contains the contributions of all molecules identified in our survey so far, including CH317OH . The values written below each panel correspond from left to right to the half-power beam width, the central frequency in MHz, the width in MHz of each panel in parentheses, and the continuum level in K of the baseline-subtracted spectra in brackets. The y-axis is labeled in brightness temperature units (K). The dotted line indicates the 3σ noise level. -- astro-ph.GA

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

Investigation of the Rotational Spectrum of CH317OH and its Tentative Detection Toward Sagittarius B2(N)

by Keith CowingJuly 13, 2024July 7, 2024

Methanol is an abundant molecule in space. The column density of CH138OH is in some star-forming regions so high that the search for CH317OH is promising. But only very few […]

The gray-scale and contours show the spatial distribution of different transitions of HCONH2. The figures are listed in order of increasing upper state energy. The first figure is the map of HCONH2 11,1-00,0 at 82549.562 MHz. The contour levels start at 2 K km s−1 with a step of 0.4 K km s−1 . The second figure is the map of HCONH2 40,4-30,3 at 84542.330 MHz. The contour levels start at 7 K km s−1 with a step of 2.5 K km s−1 . The third figure is the map of HCONH2 41,3-31,2 at 87848.874 MHz. The contour levels start at 8.4 K km s−1 with a step of 3 K km s−1 . The fourth figure is the map of HCONH2 42,2-32,1 at 85093.272 MHz. The contour levels start at 3.3 K km s−1 with a step of 3 K km s−1 . The fiveth figure is the map of HCONH2 42,3-32,2 at 84807.795 MHz. The contour levels start at 3 K km s−1 with a step of 2 K km s−1 . The sixth figure is the map of HCONH2 43,2-33,1 and 43,1-33,0 at 84888.994 MHz and 84890.987, respectively. The contour levels start at 2.5 K km s−1 with a step of 2.5 K km s−1 . Sgr B2(N), Sgr B2(M), and G+0.693 are labeled with ′′ × ”. The beam size are shown in the left corner of each panel. -- astro-ph.GA

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

Mapping Observations of Peptide-like Molecules Around Sagittarius B2

by Keith CowingOctober 25, 2023October 25, 2023

Peptide-like molecule, which has a close connection with the origin of life, has been detected in universe. Mapping observations of HCONH2 and CH3CONH2, two simplest peptide-like molecules, are performed towards […]