Molecole organiche formate nei ghiacci interstellari. Lo studio: “Synthesis of complex organic molecules in soft x-ray irradiated ices” di A. Ciaravella (INAF-OAPA) recentemente pubblicato su ApJ

Negli ultimi anni, molte molecole organiche, alcune delle quali prebiotiche, sono state osservate in diversi ambienti astronomici. Ad esempio, l’acetonitrile CH3CN è stato osservato nella nube molecolare Sag B2 e nel disco protoplanetario attorno la protostella MWC480; la formammide (precursore, ad esempio, di nucleobasi) è stata osservata in alcune galassie e nella protostella SVS13-A (in questo caso insieme ad acetaldeide

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Radiation and abundances of organic compounds in planets-forming disks. The study: “X-Ray Photo-desorption of H2O:CO:NH3 Circumstellar Ice Analogs: Gas-phase Enrichment” of A. Jiménez-Escobar (Inaf-OAPA) published in ApJ

From the large number of exoplanets discovered by missions such as Kepler and CoRoT, it is clear that the presence of planets is a common feature in stars of our Galaxy. In particular, it has been estimated that on average each low mass star has one planet. Planets formation is thus an ubiquitous phenomenon across the Milky Way. It is

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The formation of the prebiotic molecules in space. The study: “Dust Motions in Magnetized Turbulence: Source of Chemical Complexity” of G. Cassone (Czech Academy of Sciences) published on ApJL

One of the big and so far unsolved mysteries regarding the origin of life is what are the processes leading to the formation of its fundamental components: aminoacids and their precursors. In the past years several aminoacids have been detected in meteorites. This supports the hypothesis that life could have developed on Earth thanks to complex molecules formed in space.

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