ALMA: LMC Contains Complex Organic Molecules

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ALMA: LMC Contains Complex Organic Molecules

Post by bystander » Wed Jan 31, 2018 10:31 pm

Stellar Embryos in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Contains Surprisingly Complex Organic Molecules

ALMA | NRAO | NAOJ | ESO | 2018 Jan 30
[img3="Astronomers using ALMA have uncovered chemical “fingerprints” of methanol, dimethyl ether, and methyl formate in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF; ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO);
Herschel/ESA; NASA/JPL-Caltech; NOAO
"]https://public.nrao.edu/wp-content/uplo ... 24x647.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]
The nearby dwarf galaxy known as the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is a chemically primitive place. Unlike the Milky Way, this semi-spiral collection of a few tens-of-billions of stars lacks our galaxy’s rich abundance of heavy elements, like carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen. With such a dearth of heavy elements, astronomers predict that the LMC should contain comparatively paltry amounts of complex carbon-based molecules. Previous observations of the LMC seem to support that view.

New observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), however, have uncovered the surprisingly clear chemical “fingerprints” of the complex organic molecules methanol, dimethyl ether, and methyl formate. Though previous observations found hints of methanol in the LMC, the latter two are unprecedented findings and stand as the most complex molecules ever conclusively detected outside of our galaxy.

Astronomers discovered the molecules’ faint millimeter-wavelength “glow” emanating from two dense star-forming embryos in the LMC, regions known as “hot cores.” These observations may provide insights into the formation of similarly complex organic molecules early in the history of the universe. ...

The Detection of Hot Cores and Complex Organic Molecules in the Large Magellanic Cloud - Marta Sewiło et al
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