STEM news topic of the month
ASTROPHYSICS
ASTRONOMERS DISCOVER COMPLEX CARBON BLOCKS IN SPACE
Carbon is essential for life on Earth and possibly in space, yet astronomers often struggle to locate the volume of carbon they expect to find in the cosmos. Recently, researchers discovered a complex molecule, 1-cyanopyrene , which challenges current understanding of where carbon-based molecules exist and how they evolve. Traditionally, scientists believed that large carbon molecules, like Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), could only form in high-energy environments , such as around dying stars. However, 1-cyanopyrene was detected in the cold Taurus Molecular Cloud-1 (TMC-1), which is only 10 degrees above absolute zero and has not yet formed stars.
This molecule, composed of four benzene rings , was identified with the NSF Green Bank Telescope, thanks to its unique rotational spectrum. PAHs like 1-cyanopyrene could account for a significant amount of carbon in space , based on their infrared emission bands. The detection in TMC-1 expands scientists’ understanding of the types of molecules that can exist in cold interstellar environments. This interdisciplinary research, involving synthetic chemists, spectroscopists, and astronomers, was critical to the discovery, as CfA's specialized microwave spectrometers were essential for precisely identifying 1-cyanopyrene’s "radio fingerprints." This finding hints that more complex molecules may be detectable in the future, pushing the boundaries of known interstellar chemistry and astrophysics.
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