Scientists working with the Atacama Large Submillimeter Arrays have found methanol in the protoplanetary disk around the star HD 100453. This alcohol is an important element of biological processes and indicates the possible existence of more complex molecules.
Methanol near another star
Methanol is the same alcohol that looks very similar to regular alcohol, but when consumed in the form of vodka, it can lead to rapid death. However, it is involved in many biochemical reactions. Therefore, its presence in the protoplanetary disk around a relatively young luminary may indicate that biological evolution may have already begun there.
We are talking about the star HD 100453, which is located at a distance of 330 light-years from us. It is 1.6 times more massive than the Sun. Its accretion disk is not only much wider than that of other stars observed so far, but also significantly hotter. Because of this, ethanol, which is usually frozen into ice, has turned into a gaseous state, in which it was recorded.
In general, it was the temperature of the disk that made it possible to use the spectrograph, which operates at wavelengths much longer than ordinary or infrared light, to its full potential. This is a device that is part of the Atacama Large Submillimeter Array.
Features of the discovery
Methanol has already been found in the protoplanetary disks of other stars. However, in the case of HD 100453, scientists found molecules containing rare isotopes of atoms. This fact suggests that there should be a lot of ordinary methanol there.
The signal increased strongly in the direction of the disk edge, indicating that most of this matter is concentrated at the disk edge at a distance of more than 2 billion km from the star, which is about 16 times the distance from Earth.
The most interesting thing about the discovery of so much methanol is that it could be evidence of the presence of more complex molecules. And this could confirm the assumption that comets could have brought the first particles of life to Earth.
Provided by: phys.org
