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For this reason, molecules and molecular ions which are unstable on Earth can be highly abundant in space, for example the H 3 + ion. Astrochemistry overlaps with astrophysics and nuclear physics in characterizing the nuclear reactions which occur in stars, as well as the structure of stellar interiors.
Atomic physics plays a key role in astrophysics as astronomers' only information about a particular object comes through the light that it emits, and this light arises through atomic transitions. Molecular astrophysics , developed into a rigorous field of investigation by theoretical astrochemist Alexander Dalgarno beginning in 1967, concerns ...
For example, radio astronomy is most sensitive to small linear molecules with a high molecular dipole. [3] The most common molecule in the Universe, H 2 ( molecular hydrogen ), is completely invisible to radio telescopes because it has no dipole; [ 3 ] its electronic transitions are too energetic for optical telescopes, so detection of H 2 ...
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.”
Although the Sun is a star, its photosphere has a low enough temperature of 6,000 K (5,730 °C; 10,340 °F), and therefore molecules can form. Water has been found on the Sun, and there is evidence of H 2 in white dwarf stellar atmospheres. [2] [4] Cooler stars include absorption band spectra that are
A dusty plasma contains tiny charged particles of dust (typically found in space). The dust particles acquire high charges and interact with each other. A plasma that contains larger particles is called grain plasma. Under laboratory conditions, dusty plasmas are also called complex plasmas. [31]
Some researchers would add to this definition the presence of insufficient feedback or unmet lasing threshold: that is, the users wish the system to behave as a laser. The emission from astrophysical masers is, in fact, ASE but is sometimes termed superradiant emission to differentiate it from the laboratory phenomenon. This simply adds to the ...
This definition goes beyond atoms and molecules, however, to include substances made from these building blocks that are not simply atoms or molecules, for example electron beams in an old cathode ray tube television, or white dwarf matter—typically, carbon and oxygen nuclei in a sea of degenerate electrons. At a microscopic level, the ...