A worldwide team of astronomers has actually reported the discovery of diverse ices in the darkest, coldest areas of a molecular cloud measured to date by studying this area. Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/ M. Zamani (ESA/Webb)/ M. K. McClure (Leiden Observatory)/ F. Sun (Steward Observatory)/ Z. Smith (Open University)/ Ice Age ERS Team
” The JWST permitted us to study ices that exist on dust grains within the darkest areas of interstellar molecular clouds,” said SwRI Research Scientist Dr. Danna Qasim, co-author of the research study published in Nature Astronomy. “The clouds are so dense that these ices have been primarily protected from the severe radiation of neighboring stars, so they are rather pristine.
This image by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescopes Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam) features the main area of the Chameleon I dark molecular cloud, which resides 630 light years away. The cold, wispy cloud material (blue, center) is brightened in the infrared by the radiance of the young, outflowing protostar Ced 110 IRS 4 (orange, upper left). The light from numerous background stars, viewed as orange dots behind the cloud, can be utilized to spot ices in the cloud, which soak up the starlight travelling through them. A global group of astronomers has reported the discovery of varied ices in the darkest, coldest areas of a molecular cloud measured to date by studying this region. Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/ M. Zamani (ESA/Webb)/ M. K. McClure (Leiden Observatory)/ F. Sun (Steward Observatory)/ Z. Smith (Open University)/ Ice Age ERS Team
Researchers used the James Webb Space Telescope to analyze prehistoric interstellar ices.
A global group including Southwest Research Institute, Leiden University, and NASA utilized observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to achieve the darkest view yet of a thick interstellar cloud. This resulted in the revelation of the structure of a virtual treasure chest of ices from the early universe, supplying brand-new insights into the chemical processes in one of the coldest and darkest locations in deep space and the origins of the particles that make up planetary environments.
” The JWST permitted us to study ices that exist on dust grains within the darkest areas of interstellar molecular clouds,” said SwRI Research Scientist Dr. Danna Qasim, co-author of the research study published in Nature Astronomy. “The clouds are so thick that these ices have actually been mostly protected from the extreme radiation of close-by stars, so they are rather beautiful. These are the very first ices to be formed and also include biogenic aspects, which are very important to life.”
NASAs JWST has a 6.5-meter-wide mirror offering exceptional spatial resolution and level of sensitivity, enhanced for infrared light. As a result, the telescope has had the ability to image the densest, darkest clouds in deep space for the very first time.
” These observations provide brand-new insights into the chemical processes in one of the coldest, darkest places in deep space to much better comprehend the molecular origins of protoplanetary disks, planetary atmospheres, and other Solar System items,” Qasim said.
The majority of interstellar ices consist of extremely little amounts of aspects like oxygen and sulfur. Qasim and her co-authors seek to comprehend the absence of sulfur in interstellar ices.
” The ices we observed only consist of 1% of the sulfur were expecting. 99% of that sulfur is locked up somewhere else, and we need to determine where in order to understand how sulfur will become included into the worlds that might host life,” Qasim described.
In the research study, Qasim and colleagues propose that the sulfur might be locked in reactive minerals like iron sulfide, which might react with ices to form the sulfur-bearing ices observed.
“If sulfur is locked up in these minerals, that might describe the low quantity of sulfur in interstellar ices, which has ramifications for where sulfur is saved in our Solar System. The atmosphere of Venus has sulfur-containing particles, in which the sulfur might have partly come from interstellar-inherited minerals.”
Referral: “An Ice Age JWST stock of thick molecular cloud ices” by M. K. McClure, W. R. M. Rocha, K. M. Pontoppidan, N. Crouzet, L. E. U. Chu, E. Dartois, T. Lamberts, J. A. Noble, Y. J. Pendleton, G. Perotti, D. Qasim, M. G. Rachid, Z. L. Smith, Fengwu Sun, Tracy L. Beck, A. C. A. Boogert, W. A. Brown, P. Caselli, S. B. Charnley, Herma M. Cuppen, H. Dickinson, M. N. Drozdovskaya, E. Egami, J. Erkal, H. Fraser, R. T. Garrod, D. Harsono, S. Ioppolo, I. Jiménez-Serra, M. Jin, J. K. Jørgensen, L. E. Kristensen, D. C. Lis, M. R. S. McCoustra, Brett A. McGuire, G. J. Melnick, Karin I. Öberg, M. E. Palumbo, T. Shimonishi, J. A. Sturm, E. F. van Dishoeck and H. Linnartz, 23 January 2023, Nature Astronomy.DOI: 10.1038/ s41550-022-01875-w.