Scanning the stars of Orion nebulathe James Webb telescope was able to locate for the first time the molecule considered an important triggering interstellar chemistry: and the methyl cation (CH3+)a very reactive ion which it favors the formation of more complex molecules based on carbon and fundamental for life. Her presence had been predicted in the 1970s, but only Webb’s infrared super vision was able to demonstrate it, as reported in the study published in the journal Nature by an international research group led by Olivier Berné, of the French University of Toulouse .
The presence of CH3+ has been identified in the protoplanetary disk indicated with the initials d203-506, which is located 1,350 light-years from Earth, in the Orion nebula. Although his parent star be a small one red dwarf (with a mass equal to one tenth that of the Sun), the system is bombarded by strong ultraviolet radiation from nearby hot young massive stars. Precisely these radiations would supply the energy necessary to form CH3+, thus playing a crucial role in the early stages of the chemistry underlying life.
Not by chance also the protoplanetary disk that formed our Solar System has been subjected to a large amount of ultraviolet radiation, emitted by a companion star of our Sun that is long dead.
This is the first time that the CH3+ ion has been detected outside the Solar System. The discovery was made by a multidisciplinary group of experts and researchers thanks to data collected by the Miri and Nirspec instruments of the Webb telescope of the space agencies of Europe, the United States and Canada.
Source: Ansa
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