Archive for the ‘Astrochemistry’ Category
We know the chemistry of the Earth and other planets nearby, and we can even deduce from distant stars from spectroscopic analysis of light. But the chemistry that takes place in the cold, dark clouds of gas and dust in the interstellar medium has still many unknowns. A new study may have unlocked a few.
A recent study conducted by astrochemists of Heriot-Watt University in UK, sheds light on this dark part of the universe, which show the key role they can play icy dust particles in the formation of one type of molecule organic precursor may be the pillars of life.
By some estimates, the molecules are less than 1 percent of matter in the universe, but despite its scarcity may significantly influence the evolution of stars and planetary systems. Read the rest of this entry »
After careful analysis, we have presented the first measurements of isotopes of oxygen and nitrogen from the sun, resulting from the Genesis space mission. The results show that these isotopic compositions are very different from those for the same two elements on Earth.
The return capsule from NASA’s Genesis mission crashed in the Utah desert in 2004, after his parachute did not deploy during reentry to Earth.
Most of the Genesis payload consisted of fragile devices samplers “wind” solar that had been exposed solar particles over a period of two years. Almost all these collectors were severely damaged by the fall.
But the capsule also contained a special instrument built by a team of U.S. National Laboratory at Los Alamos to increase the flow of solar wind into a small collecting system made it possible to make measurements of oxygen and nitrogen. The recipients of the Solar Wind Concentrator survived the crash, and ultimately have ended up serving to reveal some secrets of the Sun. Read the rest of this entry »