Fullerenes, found in 1985 and granted the Nobel Prize, are stable carbon molecules that might help understand deep spaces natural material company, due to their existence in area and prospective to transport intricate molecules. The image above depicts the center of the planetary nebula M57, taken by the astrophotographer Dr. Robert Gendler, and John Bozeman. Credit: NASA/ESAFullerenes are big, complicated carbon particles understood for their resilience. Their atoms are organized in three-dimensional spherical structures that include a pattern of alternating pentagons and hexagons. This plan resembles a soccer ball in the case of C60 fullerenes and a rugby ball for C70 fullerenes.These particles were discovered in the lab in 1985, which acquired the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for their three innovators 11 years later on. Because then there have actually been lots of circumstances of observational evidence of their presence in area, specifically within the gas clouds around old, dying stars the size of the Sun, called planetary nebulae, which have been expelled from the outer layers of the stars towards the end of their lives. As these molecules are hard and extremely stable to damage, it is thought that the fullerenes can act as cages for other particles and atoms, so that they might have brought intricate molecules to Earth, which gave an impulse to begin life. So their research study is necessary for the understanding of the standard physical procedures that take part in the organization of organic material in the universe.An unidentified chemical footprintSpectroscopy is important for the search and recognition of fullerenes in space. Spectroscopy enables us to study the material making up deep space by analyzing the chemical footprints made by atoms and particles on the light that reaches us from them.A recent research study, led completely from the IAC, has examined infrared spectroscopic data obtained previously from telescopes in space, from the planetary nebula Tc1. These spectra show spectral lines showing the presence of fullerenes, however also show broader infrared bands, (UIR for their initials in English) which are identified extensively in the universe, from the little bodies in the Solar System to remote galaxies.” The identification of the chemical species which causes this infrared emission, commonly present in deep space, was an astrochemical secret, although it was constantly believed probable that it is abundant in carbon, one of the fundamental aspects of life” explains Marco A. Gómez Muñoz, an IAC researcher, who led this study.A new origin for the fullerenesIn order to identify these mystical bands, the research team reproduced the infrared emission of the planetary nebula Tc 1. Analysis of the emission bands revealed the existence of grains of amorphous hydrogenated carbon (HAC). These compounds of carbon and hydrogen in a highly disordered state, extremely plentiful in the envelopes of dying stars, can account for the infrared emission of this nebula.” We have combined for the very first time, the optical constants of HAC, acquired from laboratory experiments, with designs of photoionization, and doing this we have actually replicated the infrared emission of the planetary nebula Tc 1, which is very rich in fullerenes”, describes Domingo Anibal García Hernández, an IAC scientist who is a coauthor of the paper.For the research team, the existence of the very same things of HAC and fullerenes supports the theory that the fullerenes could have formed throughout the process of damage of the dust grains, for example by interaction with ultraviolet radiation, which is far more energetic than noticeable light.With this result, the researchers have actually opened the method for future research based upon collaboration between lab chemistry and astrophysics. “Our work proves the great potential of interdisciplinary science, and technology to make fundamental advances in astrophysics and astrochemistry,” concludes Gómez Muñoz.Reference: “Hydrogenated amorphous carbon grains as an alternative provider of the 9– 13 μm plateau feature in the fullerene planetary nebula Tc 1” by M. A. Gómez-Muñoz, D. A. García-Hernández, R. Barzaga, A. Manchado and T. Huertas-Roldán, 21 February 2024, Astronomy & & Astrophysics.DOI: 10.1051/ 0004-6361/2023 49087.