The James Webb space telescope has found frozen forms of a wide range of substances in a so-called molecular cloud, which form the basis for the formation of complex molecules. The find shows the conditions at the very beginning of the formation of the building blocks of life, explains the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics (MPE). The ice found is a fundamental source of some key elements needed to create a habitable planet. It is about carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur – or according to their symbols together “CHONS”.
“Unique Conditions”
As the research team explains, these elements are believed to have made their way to Earth in icy comets and asteroids. In science, however, it is assumed that they were already present in the cloud of gas and dust from which the solar system once emerged. In such areas, icy dust grains would provide unique conditions for chemical reactions that produce “ordinary substances like water”. Even prebiotic molecules could form there. This assumption could now be substantiated with the most modern and powerful space telescope.
Frozen forms of many different molecules, including carbon dioxide, ammonia and methane, have been found in the molecular cloud called Chameleon I, 600 light-years away. Even more complex substances such as methanol have also been found. Overall, this is the most comprehensive inventory of the components of such a cloud to date. The quality and accuracy of the data exceeded the researchers’ expectations. One can use it to analyze sources that are a thousand times weaker than the previous maximum, explains Ewine van Dishoeck from the MPE. The team is already planning further observations with the JWST and wants to trace the path of the ice from the formation to the formation of ice comets, it is said.
The measurements of the instruments NIRSpec, NIRCam and MIRI
The James Webb Space Telescope is operated by the space agencies NASA, ESA and CSA and was launched on December 25, 2021. After a complex procedure of self-unfolding, it arrived at the L2 Lagrange point a month later. Here it looks away from the sun, earth and moon into space so that their thermal radiation does not disturb the infrared telescope. A huge protective screen blocks them. The quality of the data has been fascinating since it began scientific work at the beginning of July. The first recordings will be published immediately. The aim is for the scientific community to learn how to use the instruments as well as possible.
(Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI)
(mho)
