Tag: spectroscopy
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Phosphine on a Brown Dwarf Complicates Venus Biosignature Claims
What this finding means A team of astronomers reporting in Science has detected phosphine, a simple phosphorus-hydrogen molecule, in the atmosphere of a brown dwarf named Wolf 1130C. The result is intriguing because phosphine has long been discussed as a potential biosignature—an indirect hint of life—when found in Venus’ clouds. The new observation shows that…
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Phosphine Detected in Brown Dwarf Atmosphere
Biosignatures, phosphine, and the brown-dwarf twist In the search for life beyond Earth, scientists look for biosignatures—molecules whose presence could signal biology. Phosphine is one such candidate because on our planet it is produced primarily by anaerobic organisms and is rarely formed through abiotic processes in oxygen-rich environments. Yet before scientists declare any molecule a…
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Phosphine in a Brown Dwarf Casts Doubt on Venus Biosignature Claims
Introducing a puzzling finding A new study published in Science reports a surprising detection: phosphine, a simple molecule made of a phosphorus atom and three hydrogen atoms, in the atmosphere of a brown dwarf known as Wolf 1130C. This brown dwarf, an object that sits between a planet and a star in size and temperature,…
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Extreme NiI/FeI Abundance in 3I/ATLAS Comet’s Coma
Overview Emission lines from neutral nickel (NiI) and neutral iron (FeI) are commonly seen in the comae of solar system comets, even when the Sun’s heat is far from sublimating refractory materials. The interstellar journey of comets preserves chemical fingerprints from their parent systems, and recent work on the interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS has highlighted an…
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Extreme NiI/FeI Abundance in the Coma of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS
Introduction: Extreme metal signatures in an interstellar visitor Spectroscopic observations of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS have unveiled an extraordinary metal signature in its coma. Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) with the UVES spectrograph, researchers tracked six epochs as 3I traversed from 3.14 to 2.14 astronomical units from the Sun. In these…
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Potential Smoking Gun Signature Of Supermassive Dark Stars Found In JWST Data
JWST Findings Suggest Dark-Star Candidates in the Early Universe New analyses of data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) point to a striking possibility: some of the first stars in the universe may have been supermassive dark stars—giant, puffed clouds of hydrogen and helium whose light is powered not by fusion, but by tiny…
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Vacuum Ultraviolet Photoabsorption Spectra of Isoprene Ices and Terpenes at 10 K
Overview and significance Isoprene and its oligomers, including limonene, α-pinene and β-pinene, are volatile organics of interest in interstellar chemistry and planetary environments. However, spectral fingerprints for these molecules when frozen as icy mantles on dust grains — conditions common in dense interstellar clouds and outer solar system bodies — have been insufficiently characterized at…