Webb makes first detection of one particular carbon molecule
The uncertainty of science: Using the Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have made the first detection of methyl cation (pronounced cat-eye-on) (CH3+) in space, located in a baby solar system the star-forming region of the Orion nebula about 1,350 light years away.
While the star in d203-506 is a small red dwarf, the system is bombarded by strong ultraviolet (UV) light from nearby hot, young, massive stars. Scientists believe that most planet-forming disks go through a period of such intense UV radiation, since stars tend to form in groups that often include massive, UV-producing stars.
Typically, UV radiation is expected to destroy complex organic molecules, in which case the discovery of CH3+ might seem to be a surprise. However, the team predicts that UV radiation might actually provide the necessary source of energy for CH3+ to form in the first place. Once formed, it then promotes additional chemical reactions to build more complex carbon molecules.
Broadly, the team notes that the molecules they see in d203-506 are quite different from typical protoplanetary disks. In particular, they could not detect any signs of water. [emphasis mine]
In the next day or so we shall likely see a number of stories in the mainstream press shouting some variation of “Webb finds key element of life!” Webb has done no such thing. It has found a carbon molecule not seen previously, which simply provides scientists another small data point in trying to understand the development of complex solar systems.
The highlighted sentences make clear the uncertainty in this field and the general shallow amount of knowledge. For example, why carbon molecules but no water, which is made up of hydrogen and oxygen, both ubiquitous throughout the universe and found in large amounts in star-forming regions?
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The uncertainty of science: Using the Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have made the first detection of methyl cation (pronounced cat-eye-on) (CH3+) in space, located in a baby solar system the star-forming region of the Orion nebula about 1,350 light years away.
While the star in d203-506 is a small red dwarf, the system is bombarded by strong ultraviolet (UV) light from nearby hot, young, massive stars. Scientists believe that most planet-forming disks go through a period of such intense UV radiation, since stars tend to form in groups that often include massive, UV-producing stars.
Typically, UV radiation is expected to destroy complex organic molecules, in which case the discovery of CH3+ might seem to be a surprise. However, the team predicts that UV radiation might actually provide the necessary source of energy for CH3+ to form in the first place. Once formed, it then promotes additional chemical reactions to build more complex carbon molecules.
Broadly, the team notes that the molecules they see in d203-506 are quite different from typical protoplanetary disks. In particular, they could not detect any signs of water. [emphasis mine]
In the next day or so we shall likely see a number of stories in the mainstream press shouting some variation of “Webb finds key element of life!” Webb has done no such thing. It has found a carbon molecule not seen previously, which simply provides scientists another small data point in trying to understand the development of complex solar systems.
The highlighted sentences make clear the uncertainty in this field and the general shallow amount of knowledge. For example, why carbon molecules but no water, which is made up of hydrogen and oxygen, both ubiquitous throughout the universe and found in large amounts in star-forming regions?
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Relevant I think: the soot layer, where complex carbon chains can form and survive, but water gets blown out further –
https://earthsky.org/space/habitable-exoplanets-soot-zone-protoplanetary-disk/
You predicted that one correctly, Bob. Daily Mail science section headline “…forms the foundations of all known life”.
Six second video of an actual cat-eye-on
(Just close the pop-up. You don’t need to login)
https://tinyurl.com/27a387yc
rocky planets with magnetic fields strong enough to retain their water are probably exceedingly rare even around stars like ours, as Earth’s seems to depend on some very particular parameter ranges in the Theia impact
also note that without life to eat the CO2 and provide an oxidizing atmosphere, even Earth would look like Venus by now as outgassing CO2 slowly built up
Mars and Venus seem to be the rule… way too much atmo, or not nearly enough
an oxygen atmosphere on a rocky Goldilocks zone planet would imply life — now that would be exciting
but unlikely
A Class M Planet is one like Earth with Oxegen Nitrogen Atmosphear