Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Stellar molecules are molecules that exist or form in stars. Such formations can take place when the temperature is low enough for molecules to form – typically around 6,000 K (5,730 °C; 10,340 °F) or cooler. [1] Otherwise the stellar matter is restricted to atoms and ions in the forms of gas or – at very high temperatures – plasma.
When combined with the carbon present in carbonaceous chondrites (more likely to have high water content), these can synthesize oxygen and methane (both storable in space with a passive thermal design, unlike hydrogen), oxygen and methanol, etc. As an in-space resource, asteroidal mass does not need to be lifted out of a gravity well.
Most of the molecules detected so far are organic. The only detected inorganic molecule with five or more atoms is SiH 4. [14] Molecules larger than that all have at least one carbon atom, with no N−N or O−O bonds. [14] Carbon monoxide is frequently used to trace the distribution of mass in molecular clouds. [15]
Astronomers have detected water molecules on the surface of asteroids for the first time, a surprising find given that the space rocks were thought to be “completely dry.”
The discovery of the 21 cm line was the first step towards the technology that would allow astronomers to detect compounds and molecules in interstellar space. [3] Plaque commemorating the discovery of 21-cm radiation from the Milky Way. In 1951, two research groups nearly simultaneously discovered radio emission from interstellar neutral hydrogen.
Some of these have high enough energy (> 11.3 eV) to ionize carbon atoms, creating a C II ("ionized carbon") region outside the (hydrogen) ionization front. In dense regions this may also be limited in size by the availability of photons, but often such photons can penetrate throughout the neutral phase and only get absorbed in the outer layers ...
The observations covered spectroscopy from 1 to 12 μm and photometry at 15, 18 and 21 μm. The molecules water (H 2 O), methane (CH 4), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO 2) and ammonia (NH 3) were detected in WISE 0359−5401. Many of these features have been observed before in this Y-dwarf and warmer T-dwarfs by other observatories ...
In the thirty years afterwards, a small selection of other molecules were discovered in interstellar space: the most important being OH, discovered in 1963 and significant as a source of interstellar oxygen, [8] and H 2 CO (formaldehyde), discovered in 1969 and significant for being the first observed organic, polyatomic molecule in ...