Pan of the Orion Bar Region
An international team of scientists have used data collected by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to detect a molecule known as the methyl cation (CH3+) for the first time, located in the protoplanetary disc surrounding a young star. They accomplished this feat with a cross-disciplinary expert analysis, including key input from laboratory spectroscopists. The […]
First Detection of a Carbon Molecule Crucial for the Development of Life in a Planet-Forming Disk
Carbon compounds form the foundations of all known life, and as such are of a particular interest to scientists working to understand both how life developed on Earth, and how it could potentially develop elsewhere in our Universe. As such, interstellar organic chemistry is an area of keen fascination to astronomers who study the places […]