2023-06-28 06:00:07
An international research team involving scientists from CNRS-INSU and INP laboratories has for the first time detected the CH₃+ (methyl cation) molecule in space, thanks to the MIRI spectrometer of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). This detection was made possible thanks to the collaboration between astronomers and experimental and theoretical physicists from observations (Observation is the action of attentive monitoring of phenomena, without the will to them…) obtained within the framework of the project PDRs4All, one of JWST’s 13 Early Release Science programs.
Orion’s bar region (NIRCam image)
© ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb), the PDRs4All ERS Team
CH₃+ is a molecule that has been researched for several decades by astronomers, because it is considered crucial in extraterrestrial chemistry. Indeed, theoretical models predict that it is through CH₃+ that many more complex molecules can be produced. CH₃+ is sort of at the root of organic chemistry (Organic chemistry is a branch of chemistry concerning the scientific study of…).
The discovery is all the more astonishing as the molecule was found in a protoplanetary disc, ie a disc from which planets form around a star (A star is a celestial object emitting light from autonomous way, similar to a…) young, in the Nebula (A nebula (from the Latin nebula, “cloud”) designates, in astronomy, a…) of Orion. This environment (The environment is everything that surrounds us. It is the set of natural elements and…) is subjected to strong radiation (Radiation, synonymous with radiation in physics, designates the process of emission or of…) ultraviolet (Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is electromagnetic radiation of a length…) from nearby massive stars. According to the authors of the study, it is the presence of this ultraviolet radiation that would allow the formation of CH₃+.
This discovery is important because it might have strong implications for the chemistry of planetary systems in formation, including that of the solar system, more than 4 billion years ago. The JWST made this discovery thanks to the detection of the infrared emission (Infrared radiation (IR) is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength…) of CH₃+, which would have proved impossible with a telescope ( A telescope, (from the Greek tele meaning “far” and skopein meaning …) “classic”.
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