Articles for tag: ALMA Telescope, Astrochemistry, Cosmic Organic Molecules, Methanol in Space, Origin of Life, Protoplanetary Disks

star HD 100453

Alcohol Cloud in Deep Space May Be Key to Life on Earth, Say Scientists

Jan Otte

A young star is surrounded by a swirling disk of gas and dust in the depths of the cosmos. This disk is full of alcohol. Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have found methanol, an important organic molecule, in the protoplanetary disk of a star called HD 100453. This star is 330 light-years ...

This artist’s impression of the water snowline around the young star V883 Orionis, as detected with ALMA.

Across 460 Light-Years, Webb Telescope Reveals Water That May Have Shaped Earth

Jan Otte

Water in the great, cold nurseries where stars birth has a cosmic fingerprint. Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have found, for the first time, a rare form of water ice surrounding a young star remarkably similar to our infant Sun. Published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, this finding implies that some of ...