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An international team of scientists have used the James Webb Space Telescope to detect a crucial carbon molecule, for the first time, in a protoplanetary disc surrounding a young star.
The simple molecule discovered using the telescope is known as the methyl cation (CH3+) and it has a unique property—it reacts rather inefficiently with hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, while reacting easily with other molecules, facilitating the creation of more complex carbon-based molecules.
Astronomers are particularly interested in carbon chemistry because all life that we know so far is carbon-based. The vital role of the methyl cation in interstellar carbon chemistry was predicted in the 1970s, according to the European Space Agency. This cation is so significant that it has been theorised to be the cornersntone of interstellar organic chemistry.
The CH3+ methyl cation was detected in the star and protoplanetary disc system located about 1,350 light-years away in the Orion Nebula. Protoplanetary discs are discs of dense gas and dust surrounding young stars. The material in these discs eventually coalesces to form planets.
The star in this systems is a small red dwarf star with about one-tenth the mass of our Sun but the system itself has been bombarded by strong ultraviolet radiation from young, hot, massive stars in the vicinity, according to NASA.
It is believed that most planet-forming discs go through a similar period of intense ultraviolet radiation. This is because stars tend to form in groups that often include massive ultraviolet-producing stars. Interestingly, evidence from meteorites suggests that our Solar System was once a protoplanetary disc that went through massive amounts of ultraviolet radiation which was emitted by a massive star that has long since died. Most massive stars burn incredibly bright and for a shorter duration than less massive ones.
But the problem is that ultraviolet radiation has long been considered as something that can destroy the formation of complex organic molecules. Despite this, evidence suggests that the only life-sustaining planet we know was created from a disc that was exposed to heavy ultraviolet radiation.
But new research published in the journal Nature might have an answer for this contradictory conundrum.
The research team predicts that the presence of the methyl cation is linked to ultraviolet radiation and that the latter provides the energy necessary for the former to form. This potentially proves that ultraviolet radiation plays a critical role in the early chemical stages of the origins of life by producing CH3+, according to lead author Olivier Berné.
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