Complex organic molecules

2000/04/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astronomia

The observations made by the ISO space telescope of the European Space Agency are a great help in understanding the complex organic molecules generated in space.

The ancient stars are surrounded by numerous reactions in which the union of the molecules produced allows to create planetary systems over time. For this it is necessary to create more complex molecules from simple organic molecules like acetylene. Although it is not yet clear how these reactions occur in space, some progress has been made in recent months.

Researchers from the United States and Canada have concluded that the system with simple organic molecules is sufficient to become a system with complex molecules. Other observations made by the ISO space telescope have allowed Spanish researchers to find diacetylene and triacetylene in the systems surrounding the ancient stars. In addition to these two molecules, the images sent by the ISO show other unidentified molecules.

The molecules that form around the ancient stars escape from them and join together forming clouds that, after time, can form planets like ours formed by complex molecules.