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    Category Astronomy/Space

    Milky Way is Rich in Grease-like Molecules

    June 29, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    An illustration of the structure of a greasy carbon molecule, set against an image of the galactic centre, where this material has been detected. Carbon is represented as grey spheres and hydrogen as white spheres. Credit: D. Young (2011), The Galactic Center. Flickr – CreativeCommons

    An illustration of the structure of a greasy carbon molecule, set against an image of the galactic centre, where this material has been detected. Carbon is represented as grey spheres and hydrogen as white spheres. Credit: D. Young (2011), The Galactic Center. Flickr – CreativeCommons

    Astronomers at the University of New South Wales in Sydney (UNSW), and Ege University in Turkey used a laboratory to manufacture material with the same properties as interstellar dust and used their results to estimate the amount of ‘space grease’ found in the Milky Way. Their results appear in a paper in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

    Organic matter of different kinds contains carbon, an element considered essential for life...

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    Scientists find Evidence of Complex Organic Molecules from Enceladus

    June 28, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Cassini discovered complex organic molecules erupting from Enceladus into space. Southwest Research Institute scientists think hydrothermal processes in the moon’s rocky core could synthesize organics from inorganic precursors. Alternatively, these processes could be transforming preexisting organics by heating, or they could generate geochemical conditions in the ocean of Enceladus that would allow possible forms of alien life to synthesize biological molecules. Credit: Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/LPG-CNRS/Nantes-Angers/ESA

    Cassini discovered complex organic molecules erupting from Enceladus into space. Southwest Research Institute scientists think hydrothermal processes in the moon’s rocky core could synthesize organics from inorganic precursors. Alternatively, these processes could be transforming preexisting organics by heating, or they could generate geochemical conditions in the ocean of Enceladus that would allow possible forms of alien life to synthesize biological molecules. Credit: Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/LPG-CNRS/Nantes-Angers/ESA

    Discovery indicates Saturn’s moon meets critical requirements for life...

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    Mars’ Surface Hardened Quickly, Boosting Odds of Life: Study

    June 27, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    This image montage taken by NASA's Curiosity rover shows the surface of planet Mars, which researchers believe hardened only 20 million years after the birth of the Sun, much earlier than first thought

    This image montage taken by NASA’s Curiosity rover shows the surface of planet Mars, which researchers believe hardened only 20 million years after the birth of the Sun, much earlier than first thought

    The crust that encases rocky planets and makes possible the emergence of life took shape on Mars earlier than thought and at least 100 million years sooner than on Earth, researchers said Wednesday. Analysing grains of the mineral zircon extracted from a Martian meteorite known as Black Beauty, they determined that the Red Planet’s outer layer hardened 4.547 billion years ago, only 20 million years after the birth of the Sun.

    “Mars’s primary crust formation—which is the end product of planet formation—happened much faster than previously thought,” said Martin Bizzarro, a scientist at Denmark...

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    Planet Formation Starts Before Star Reaches Maturity

    June 27, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    MC1A is a still developing star in the constellation Taurus. Red are areas with many dust particles. Green and blue are two types of carbon monoxide. The absence of green / blue carbon monoxide in the inner part indicates that dust particles in the young protoplanetary disk have grown from less than a thousandth of a millimeter to a millimeter. Credit: Jørgensen/Harsono/ESASky/ESAC [CC-BY-SA 3.0]

    MC1A is a still developing star in the constellation Taurus. Red are areas with many dust particles. Green and blue are two types of carbon monoxide. The absence of green / blue carbon monoxide in the inner part indicates that dust particles in the young protoplanetary disk have grown from less than a thousandth of a millimeter to a millimeter. Credit: Jørgensen/Harsono/ESASky/ESAC [CC-BY-SA 3.0]

    A European team of astronomers has discovered that dust particles around a star already coagulate before the star is fully grown. Dust particle growth is the first step in the formation of planets. The researchers from the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark publish their findings in Nature Astronomy.

    In recent years, astronomers have discovered numerous planetary systems around other stars...

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