A crucial piece of the puzzle for understanding how life can arise in the universe has been discovered with the help of the James Webb Space Telescope.
Five decades ago, Chalmers astronomer John Black and colleagues realised that the carbon molecule CH3+ could be a precursor to the more complex molecules that form the basis of all life. Now, for the first time, astronomers have caught sight of the sought-after molecule in the famous Orion Nebula, 1350 light years from Earth.
In a science paper in this week's issue of Nature, the research team present their discovery of light from the carbon molecule close to a newborn star, where new planets may be forming. Images taken with the telescope show a point of light at the edge of a dark disc of dust.
- This discovery is especially exciting for me because I helped predict the molecule's pivotal role in interstellar chemistry in the early 1970s. It is only now, through the combined capabilities of JWST in space and laboratories on Earth that it could finally be identified,says John Black, professor emeritus of radio astronomy at the Department of Space, Earth and Environmental Sciences at Chalmers.
The discovery was made by a large research team including John Black and led by the French astronomer Olivier Berné. The results are also described in an international press release from the European space agency ESA.
The measurements were made in part with the James Webb Space Telescope's Miri instrument. Miri was partly developed by Swedish scientists at Stockholm University and Chalmers.
The molecule CH3+ consists of one carbon atom and three hydrogen atoms. It is also known as the methyl cation. The plus sign shows that the molecule is positively charged, and thereby a positive ion, or cation.
Image: The Orion Nebula is one of the sky's finest gas clouds. In the center of the nebula, young stars radiate ultraviolet light, which illuminates their surroundings in different ways. Near the edge of the cloud bank in the image lies a small dark cloud in which a new star and possibly several planets are forming - a protoplanetary disc. Its edge glows in the light of from CH3+ molecules, shown in yellow in this image. The image was taken in infrared light by the James Webb Space Telescope with its NIRCam camera.
Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb), PDRs4All ERS Team
For high-resolution images, video material and more information, see the international press release on the ESA website.
For more information contact:
Robert Cumming, astronomer and communicator, Onsala Space Observatory, Department of Space, Earth and Environment Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology, +46 70 493 31 14, robert.cumming@chalmers.se
John Black, Professor Emeritus in Radio Astronomy, Department of Space, Earth and Environment Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology,
john.black@chalmers.se
- Communications Officer, Onsala Space Observatory, Space, Earth and Environment
- Professor Emeritus, Astronomy and Plasma Physics, Space, Earth and Environment