They find more than 40 new molecules in space

They find more than 40 new molecules in space


Yebes Astronomical Center

The Yebes Astronomical Center, in Guadalajara, has identified these new species near our solar system

JML Guadalajara

The Yebes Astronomical Center (Guadalajara), belonging to the National Geographic Institute, has managed to identify more than 40 new molecules in space using its radio telescope. Most have been found in a prestellar core close to our solar system, although prebiotic species have also been located in highly dynamic regions in the center of our galaxy and molecules with metals in the gaseous envelope that is created in the death of stars of the type solar.

According to this observatory, molecules play a key role in the processes of galaxy and star formation. Thus, molecular gas dominates the densest regions of the interstellar medium, where matter undergoes a drastic transformation process, passing from cold, dark clouds to forming stars and planetary systems.

Five new molecules per year

This process is better understood thanks to astrochemistry or molecular astrophysics since both disciplines study molecules detected in space. Around the 70's of the last century, the development of new radio astronomical instruments made it possible to advance in these studies. Thus, in the half century that has passed since then, approximately 260 different molecular species have been observed in space. This yields an average of 5 new molecules per year, which indicates the great technical and scientific complexity required to make these new detections.

In the case of the Yebes Astronomical Center, its findings have been possible thanks to the collaboration of researchers from the National Astronomical Observatory and the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC). This observatory has a large radio telescope 40 meters in diameter, which is the one that has captured the new molecules, a work that will be published in the specialized journals "Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences" and "Astronomy & Astrophysics".



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