Complex Carbon-Based Molecules Found In Space (phys.org) 21
fahrbot-bot shares a report from Phys.Org: Much of the carbon in space is believed to exist in the form of large molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Since the 1980s, circumstantial evidence has indicated that these molecules are abundant in space, but they have not been directly observed. Now, a team of researchers led by MIT Assistant Professor Brett McGuire has identified two distinctive PAHs in a patch of space called the Taurus Molecular Cloud (TMC-1). PAHs were believed to form efficiently only at high temperatures -- on Earth, they occur as byproducts of burning fossil fuels, and they're also found in char marks on grilled food. But the interstellar cloud where the research team observed them has not yet started forming stars, and the temperature is about 10 degrees above absolute zero.
This discovery suggests that these molecules can form at much lower temperatures than expected, and it may lead scientists to rethink their assumptions about the role of PAH chemistry in the formation of stars and planets, the researchers say. "What makes the detection so important is that not only have we confirmed a hypothesis that has been 30 years in the making, but now we can look at all of the other molecules in this one source and ask how they are reacting to form the PAHs we're seeing, how the PAHs we're seeing may react with other things to possibly form larger molecules, and what implications that may have for our understanding of the role of very large carbon molecules in forming planets and stars," says McGuire, who is a senior author of the new study. The study appears today in the journal Science.
This discovery suggests that these molecules can form at much lower temperatures than expected, and it may lead scientists to rethink their assumptions about the role of PAH chemistry in the formation of stars and planets, the researchers say. "What makes the detection so important is that not only have we confirmed a hypothesis that has been 30 years in the making, but now we can look at all of the other molecules in this one source and ask how they are reacting to form the PAHs we're seeing, how the PAHs we're seeing may react with other things to possibly form larger molecules, and what implications that may have for our understanding of the role of very large carbon molecules in forming planets and stars," says McGuire, who is a senior author of the new study. The study appears today in the journal Science.
Umm (Score:3)
Evidence of aliens firing up their grill ... this is supposed to be good news to us tasty humans?
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Obviously the next time we send a satellite into outer space we should include recipes of good tasting grill / meat sauces and grill / meat seasoning/spices examples. We can title it: Tasty recipes from Earth.
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Obviously the next time we send a satellite into outer space we should include recipes of good tasting grill / meat sauces and grill / meat seasoning/spices examples. We can title it: Tasty recipes from Earth.
You could call this recipe list:
To Serve Man
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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Obviously the next time we send a satellite into outer space we should include recipes of good tasting grill / meat sauces and grill / meat seasoning/spices examples. We can title it: Tasty recipes from Earth.
"How to Serve Man"
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...us tasty humans?
The reason this vegetarian owns guns is people who use "tasty" and "humans" in the same sentence.
cue.... (Score:1)
Planets are even worse! (Score:2)
My, if complex carbons can be created in space imagine what kind of molecules can come to exist on planets!
Oh wait, or do people mean 'therefore life somehow originated not on earth'?
Shorter version (Score:2)
"Much of the carbon in space is believed to exist in the form of large molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). "
Or short 'The Stink'.
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Personally, I prefer Butyric acid, it has more kick.
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"it was... till i smelled it"
In school our chemistry prof hat put a whole roll of duct-tape around the plug, I guess he had his reasons.:-)
Sanity Check (Score:3)
Se here's a quick question: where does all the carbon in the universe come from?
If your answer is that, like all elements heavier than hydrogen, it forms in stars (or in stellar explosions), and yet you're still having problems envisioning where the temperature to make complex molecules comes from then clearly there is a problem.
I'm just not sure it's in the maths...
Re: Sanity Check (Score:2)
This! I read the occasional science article, and I never get a satisfying explanation of how so many different kinds of heavy elements are created. I feel like I get better explanations of even more exotic things like the black hole information paradox. Is the formation of heavy elements understood and just not communicated often or well? Or is this process poorly understood by even astrophysicists?
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There's one of the best primers for anyone on the subject. There's newer ones, but this one is definitely worth reading.
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Space lightning? (Score:2)
Is there any static in space? Space lightning seems a reasonable explanation.
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Is there any static in space? Space lightning seems a reasonable explanation.
The stellar wind from every star is electrically neutral. It is ionized, meaning it largely consists of naked hydrogen atoms rather than hydrogen's preferred non-ionized state of H2, but each of those naked hydrogen atoms has both its proton and its electron, so the charge is balanced. The failure to understand the distinction between ions and naked protons is what gave rise to the Electric Universe guys, once so prominent on Slashdot.
Their confusion was further exacerbated by the very loose and floppy de