Otkrivanje u Orionu
Tim istraživača iz Max Planck instituta pronašao je više od deset vrsta kompleksnih organskih molekula blizu protostara u sazviježđu Orion. Ova otkrića, zapažena instrumentom ALMA, pokazuju da kompleksne organske molekule mogu preživjeti haotične procese rađanja zvijezda i biti raširene u svemiru.
Među molekulima identifikovanim u sistemu V883 posebno su istaknuti etilen-glikol i glicolonitril, potencijalni prekursori nukleinskih kiselina u DNA i RNA. Prisutnost ovih kompleksnih organskih molekula blizu protostara sugeriše da hemijska evolucija počinje mnogo ranije nego što se mislilo i da protoplanetarni diskovi mogu naslijediti takve molekule.
Kompleksne organske molekule često su zarobljene u ledenim česticama prašine, ali izbijanja zračenja mladog zvijezdanog sistema zagrijavaju disk i oslobađaju hemikalije koje ALMA može registrovati.
"Our finding points to a straight line of chemical enrichment and increasing complexity between interstellar clouds and fully evolved planetary systems,"
"this suggests that the seeds of life are assembled in space and are widespread."
"Now it appears the opposite is true,"
"Our results suggest that protoplanetary disks inherit complex molecules from earlier stages, and the formation of complex molecules can continue during the protoplanetary disk stage."
"These outbursts are strong enough to heat the surrounding disk as far as otherwise icy environments, releasing the chemicals we have detected,"
"Perhaps we also need to look at other regions of the electromagnetic spectrum to find even more evolved molecules,"
"Who knows what else we might discover?"
