Organic Molecules in Space

-FUPPETS- has discussed before how scientists are using spectral emissions to discover organic compounds in inter-stellar space. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy have used their instruments to detect two of the most complex organic molecules yet discovered away from Earth. The two molecules are ethyl formate and n-propyl cyanide.
This is an image of the two molecules.

Two new highly complex organic molecules detected in space. Top: Ethyl formate (C2H5OCHO). Bottom: n-Propyl cyanide (C3H7CN). Colour code of the atomic constituents of both molecules: hydrogen (H): white, carbon (C): grey, oxygen (O): red and nitrogen (N): blue. (Credit: Oliver Baum, University of Cologne)

According to their calculations, not only these complex molecules, but even more complex amino acids may be found flowing in the inter-stellar medium. Their discovery has yet to occur.

The IRAM 30 m telescope in Spain was used to detect emission from molecules in the star-forming region Sagittarius B2, close to the center of our galaxy. The two new molecules were detected in a hot, dense cloud of gas known as the "Large Molecule Heimat", which contains a luminous newly-formed star. Large, organic molecules of many different sorts have been detected in this cloud in the past, including alcohols, aldehydes, and acids. - ( Science Daily )

These compounds have very interesting qualities. Ethyl formate is created here on Earth when ethanol reacts with formic acid. It has the characteristic smell of rum! Ethyl formate is also responsible for the flavor of raspberries. Incredible! If you sip rum or taste a raspberry you are experiencing what it may be like to taste the universe!
N-Propyl cyanide, also known as n-Butyronitrile, is highly toxic and corrosive, and is one of the haz-mat controlled substances used in some chemical manufacturing.
It is amazing what we find when we look into our stellar neighborhood. It seems that more and more we see the organic compounds we most associate with life are spread far and wide.

Cosmic Jets Rock -FUPPETS-

What appears to be a massive tornado in space is actually one end of a pair of Cosmic Jets, streaming from a rapidly rotating white dwarf star. These Cosmic Jets are propelled by the ridiculously powerful magnetic fields created when the mass in these stars spins around, sometimes at rates of hundreds of times a minute. Some of them have been seen ejecting matter from quasars, hugely powerful and luminescent objects in deep space. Others have been found which appear to be ejected from supermassive black holes at the center of distant, ancient galaxies. The graphic below shows some of these, as seen through the VLA, or Very Large Array, a radio telescope composed of

27 antennas arranged in a ``Y'' shape on the Plains of San Agustin 50 miles west of Socorro, NM. All 27 antennas usually work together as a single instrument. Each antenna uses a parabolic dish 25 meters (82 feet) in diameter, and weighs 230 tons. The antennas are placed in four standard configurations, with the maximum separation ranging from 1 km to 36 km. The configuration is changed approximately once every four months by using special transporter vehicles to move the antennas along dual sets of of railroad tracks and place them on concrete pads distributed along the arms of the ``Y''. The VLA is used to produce images of the sky as seen at radio wavelengths.

Here is an image of the Very Large Array.

These Cosmic Jets are immense, spanning hundreds of thousands of light years across. They sweep whatever is in their path with some of the most highly charged particles found in the Universe. If a star in our Milky Way galaxy were to go supernova and become a rapidly spinning white dwarf, and if the poles of that star happened to sweep in Earth's direction, the energy within would completely eradicate any and all organic life on our planet, and maybe strip away our atmosphere and oceans. Amazing stuff.

Here are a few more beautiful images of these Cosmic Jets.

This one is viewed through an X-Ray telescope.

These are relatively recent discoveries and the whole mechanism for their creation is not fully understood. It goes to show, the more we look at the Universe, the more there is for us to discover. Each new tool brings new discoveries, and each new discovery brings new questions. The human race will never run out of possibilities, and it is stupid and ignorant to think that we will someday know everything there is to know.

Cosmic Radio Noise Pervades the Multi-verse

Radio Astronomy is one of the greatest tools that humanity has to study and understand the Universe we are a part of. The ability of radio signals and other high energy signals to reach Earth through the star-stuff and galactic dust that blocks much of the visible light spectrum makes it ideal for studying the details of our cosmic surroundings.
The discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation in 1964 by astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson was the culmination of work initiated by others in the 1940s, and earned them the 1978 Nobel Prize. When they pointed their radiometer (intended for use with satellite communications and for radio astronomy) at otherwise empty spaces in the night sky, they always had a background "noise" at around 5 Kelvin, or just 5 degrees above absolute zero. This was a shock, not only because it should not have been there, but because it was isomorphic, the same in all directions. What they were the first to "see" was the leftover radiation from the Big Bang event at the beginning of our Universe's time. This has been more carefully mapped with microwave telescopes in orbit and looks like this. (click image to enlarge)


Science and the scientific pursuit of knowledge is riddled with great events like this one, events where instruments are created and used to try and record a specific thing, but instead wind up discovering something heretofore unknown, and definitely unexplained. This is what happened to the scientists from a team led by Alan Kogut of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
In July 2006, the team launched a hypersensitive instrument via a large balloon, named ARCADE (Absolute Radiometer for Cosmology, Astrophysics, and Diffuse Emission) which climbed to over 120,000 feet, where the atmosphere thins out into the vacuum of empty space. The sensors aboard were enclosed in 500 gallons of ultra-cold liquid helium, to bring the instrument's temperature down to the same level as the Cosmic Background, (since accurately measured at 2.7 degrees above absolute zero). They were attempting to study the heat given off by the very first stars in the Universe (which were likely ultra-huge and ultra-hot and ultra-short-lived), using the cold to negate any interference from the Cosmic Microwave Background. They did not get their data though, and this is what blew their minds.

"The universe really threw us a curve," Kogut says. "Instead of the faint signal we hoped to find, here was this booming noise six times louder than anyone had predicted." Detailed analysis ruled out an origin from primordial stars or from known radio sources, including gas in the outermost halo of our own galaxy. The source of this cosmic radio background remains a mystery.
Many objects in the universe emit radio waves. In 1931, American physicist Karl Jansky first detected radio static from our own Milky Way galaxy. Similar emission from other galaxies creates a background hiss of radio noise.
The problem, notes team member Dale Fixsen of the University of Maryland at College Park, is that there don't appear to be enough radio galaxies to account for the signal ARCADE detected. "You'd have to pack them into the universe like sardines," he says. "There wouldn't be any space left between one galaxy and the next."

So not only is there a Cosmic Microwave Background, there appears to be a Cosmic Radio Background! ARCADE is the first human instrument capable of detecting these radio signals. The source of this noise is unknown, and it remains unexplained. The beauty of humanity's search for truth is that whenever a question gets answered, two new questions are created. We will never run out of natural surprises. The only thing that can stop us is ourselves, and our complacency in the face of the unknown.