Tag

Astrochemistry

All articles tagged with #astrochemistry

space23 days ago•6 min saved

Dragonfly aims to map Titan’s chemistry from the skies

NASA’s Dragonfly is an eight-rotor rotorcraft mission planned to launch by 2028 to Titan. It will fly across Titan’s thick atmosphere and dunes, powered by its helicopters and carrying a DraMS mass spectrometer, a sample carousel, ovens, and a laser to study organic material and prebiotic chemistry. The mission, about a seven-year journey to reach Titan, emphasizes mobility over wheels (unlike planetary rovers) and will not sample Titan’s liquid lakes, instead targeting land-based organics to understand how complex molecules could form.

via Mashable|

#astrochemistry #dragonfly #nasa

science-tech29 days ago•13 min saved

Space biosignatures demand patience: confirmations of life clues take years

Astronomers detect molecules in space by matching spectral fingerprints from radio and infrared telescopes; while hundreds of astrochemical detections exist, claims of life-related molecules (like glycine in space or phosphine on Venus) have often been revised upon further scrutiny, illustrating that confirming potential biosignatures on distant worlds requires multiple signals, replication by independent teams, and time—so excitement about life’s clues tends to fade into cautious verification.

via The Conversation|

#astrochemistry #biosignatures #exoplanets

space1 month ago•7 min saved

Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Carries Frozen Clues From Ultra-Cold Star-Forming Realms

Astronomers using ALMA detected an exceptionally high abundance of deuterated water (HDO) in interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS—more than 30 times what’s typical in solar-system comets and over 40 times Earth's ocean water—indicating the comet formed in environments colder than about 30 Kelvin, far colder than the region that formed our solar system. The finding suggests interstellar comets carry preserved birth-region chemistry and underscores that planetary formation varies with local temperature and radiation across the galaxy.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#3iatlas #alma #astrochemistry

space1 month ago•78 min saved

JWST uncovers buckyball chemistry around a dying star Tc 1

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope images the Tc 1 planetary nebula around a dying sun‑like star, revealing abundant buckyballs (carbon spheres) and prompting questions about how these PAHs form and emit infrared light; the finding suggests buckyballs are widespread in space but not frequent, guiding future studies of photochemistry and nebular environments.

via Space|

#astrochemistry #buckyballs #dying-star

space1 month ago•72 min saved

Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Unveils Hidden Chemistry Near the Sun

New measurements of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS show its coma chemistry changing after a close pass to the Sun, with the CO2-to-water ratio shifting between observations in late 2025 and early 2026 (including Subaru data from Jan 7, 2026 and JUICE observations in Nov 2025). The results imply the comet’s internal chemistry differs from its external makeup, offering insights into planetesimal and planet formation in other star systems; the work by Yoshiharu Shinnaka and collaborators will be published in the Astronomical Journal on April 22, 2026.

via Space|

#3iatlas #astrochemistry #comet

space2 months ago•36 min saved

Ryugu Samples Show All Five Canonical Nucleobases, Pointing to Common Prebiotic Chemistry in the Solar System

Two Ryugu aggregates contain all five canonical nucleobases (adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine, uracil) plus related N-heterocycles, supporting extraterrestrial delivery of basic life-building blocks. The study finds purine/pyrimidine ratios that correlate with ammonia levels and differ from Bennu, Orgueil, and Murchison, suggesting different parent-body chemistries but a shared formation pathway for nucleobases on primitive Solar System bodies and implications for Earth's prebiotic inventory.

via Nature|

#astrochemistry #meteorites #nucleobases

space2 months ago•5 min saved

Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Shows Methanol-Rich Chemistry

ALMA observations reveal the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is unusually methanol-rich, with methanol originating from both the nucleus and coma. This chemical fingerprint suggests formation under conditions different from those of Solar System comets and provides a glimpse into the chemistry of distant star systems, with more interstellar visitors anticipated as powerful observatories come online.

via BBC Sky at Night Magazine|

#3iatlas #alma #astrochemistry

space2 months ago•4 min saved

3I/Atlas Reveals Methanol-Rich Signature as It Leaves the Solar System

Observations of interstellar comet 3I/Atlas show its coma is unusually rich in methanol—up to four times typical levels—along with carbon dioxide and other organics, suggesting formation in a colder or chemically distinct environment. The study, based on ALMA data, indicates methanol (and other gases) may be released from both the nucleus and sublimating icy grains in a hyperactive comet, supporting a natural origin. As it travels away from the Sun at about 60 km/s, 3I/Atlas reinforces that more interstellar visitors are likely to be found with advancing detection capability.

via WIRED|

#alma #astrochemistry #comets

astronomy2 months ago•7 min saved

JWST Discovers Hidden Galactic Cores as Cosmic Organic Molecule Factories

JWST spectroscopic data of the ultraluminous infrared galaxy IRAS 07251-0248 reveal a rich mix of small organic molecules (benzene, methane, acetylene, diacetylene, triacetylene) and solid carbon-rich grains in its buried nucleus, along with the first outside-the Milky Way detection of the methyl radical CH3. The chemistry appears driven by cosmic rays fragmenting carbonaceous materials and PAHs, producing a diverse organic inventory far exceeding models’ predictions. This implies deeply obscured galactic nuclei can act as factories of organic molecules, with potential implications for prebiotic chemistry and galactic chemical evolution. Findings published in Nature Astronomy showcase JWST’s power to probe extreme, dust-shrouded environments.

via SciTechDaily|

#astrochemistry #astronomy #cosmic-rays

space3 months ago•4 min saved

Molecule Found in Star-Birth Cloud Could Seed Life on New Worlds

Astronomers detected methanimine, a simple organic molecule, in the L1544 pre-stellar core about 554 light-years away, suggesting that the chemistry needed for life begins before star formation and could seed planets forming from the cloud with life's building blocks.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#astrochemistry #l1544 #methanimine

space3 months ago•78 min saved

Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Flare Reveals Molecules From Another Star

NASA’s SPHEREx infrared telescope observed interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS flare up as it was exiting the solar system in December 2025, revealing a coma rich in water vapor, carbon dioxide and complex organics (including methane, methanol and cyanide) and a pear-shaped dust tail. The observations suggest sunlight penetrated buried ices, triggering a delayed release of materials formed around another star. 3I/ATLAS is only the third confirmed interstellar object, discovered in 2025, with the findings published in February 2026 in the Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society.

via Space|

#3iatlas #astrochemistry #infrared-astronomy

science3 months ago•326 min saved

Lab-made cosmic dust sheds light on life's beginnings

A University of Sydney doctoral student creates tiny cosmic-dust analogues in the lab by exciting a mix of nitrogen, carbon dioxide and acetylene with 10,000 volts of electricity, reproducing conditions around stars to study how dust catalyzes organic molecules and potentially seeded life; the team aims to build a database of dust types to compare with meteorites and astronomical observations.

via cnn.com|

#astrochemistry #cosmic-dust #linda-losurdo

space3 months ago•3 min saved

Ring-Shaped Sulfur Molecule Detected in Interstellar Space, Linking Space Chemistry to Life's Origins

Astronomers detected thiepine (C6H6S), the largest sulfur-bearing molecule observed in interstellar space, in the G+0.693–0.027 molecular cloud near the Galactic center. By lab-synthesizing the molecule and matching its spectral fingerprint with observations from the IRAM 30m and Yebes 40m telescopes, researchers confirmed its presence and reinforced the idea that complex sulfur chemistry in star-forming regions could lay the groundwork for prebiotic molecules, linking space chemistry to the origins of life. The finding, published in Nature Astronomy, expands known interstellar sulfur chemistry and suggests more complex molecules await discovery.

via ScienceAlert|

#astrochemistry #interstellar #molecular-cloud

science3 months ago•326 min saved

Large sulfur-bearing molecule found in space hints at cosmic roots of life

Astronomers have identified the largest sulfur-containing molecule ever seen in interstellar space—a 13-atom compound called 2,5-cyclohexadiene-1-thione—within a molecular cloud about 27,000 light-years from Earth. The discovery, made using radio telescopes IRAM-30m and Yebes and confirmed by a laboratory-synthesized radio fingerprint, fills a gap between simple space chemistry and the complex molecules tied to life. Researchers say sulfur-bearing molecules may be far more common in space than previously thought and could be delivered to early Earth via comets and meteorites, helping to bootstrap the chemistry that led to life. The finding suggests many more such sulfur-rich molecules could be detected in the future.

via CNN|

#astrochemistry #interstellar #origins-of-life

science3 months ago•4 min saved

Ice-Formed Hydrogen Cyanide Could Jump-Start Life Across the Solar System

Researchers modeling frozen hydrogen cyanide find it converts to hydrogen isocyanide, enabling two pathways to prebiotic molecules like amino acids and nucleobases, even in extreme cold. The work suggests cyanide-based chemistry could have seeded life on early Earth and may occur on icy worlds such as Titan or in other planetary atmospheres across the solar system.

via Indian Defence Review|

#astrochemistry #hydrogen-cyanide #icy-chemistry