(ORDO NEWS) — An international team of astronomers using the 40-meter radio telescope of the Yebes observatory discovered two new complex organic molecules in the interstellar medium – butadiyne thionyl and ethynyl butatitrienylidene.
Using a powerful telescope, the team studied the TMC-1 molecular cloud, located 440 light-years from Earth in the constellation Taurus. It is the core of a starless cloud.
This object has long attracted the attention of astrophysicists. A new study describes a part of a molecular cloud containing “interesting carbon-rich chemistry.”
Most intriguing was the discovery of complex organic molecules, including two molecules that had never been seen before in the interstellar medium.
“The TMC-1 cloud is surprisingly rich in hydrocarbons such as long carbon chains, propargyl, vinylacetylene and allyl acetylene,” says astronomer Raul Fuentetaja, lead author of the work.
“In addition, several cyclic molecules have been found there, such as indene, cyclopentadiene, ortho-gasoline and fulvenallen.
The researchers also discovered two new molecules, butadiyne thionyl and ethynyl butatitrien ylidene, which are fairly common in the TMC-1 cloud.
As the researchers explain, butadiyne thionyl is a sulfur-containing molecule. In other words, it is one of those elements that scientists call “the building blocks of life.”
“We investigated the formation processes of these two molecules using chemical modeling,” continues Raul Fuentetaja.
“The observed abundance can be explained by assuming standard gas phase formation pathways, including neutral-neutral reactions and ion-neutral reactions.”
At the same time, the authors of the work emphasize that modern chemical models are not yet accurate enough to predict the existence of all molecules that may be contained in the interstellar medium.
For example, the above two new molecules have never been taken into account by models before.
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