[ad_1]
Scientists have discovered traces of the oldest chemistry in the universe, thanks to measurements taken at the telescope aboard a modified Boeing 747.
After the Big Bang, the Universe began to cool and atoms such as hydrogen, helium and lithium began to form from free particles. When the entire universe has reached a temperature of a few thousand degrees, these atoms should have started to bond to each other (otherwise, we would not exist), and the theory of physics suggests that the very first bond would have been a helium atom bonded to a hydrogen atom. But the resulting helium hydride ion has never been found in space – until now, thanks to the stratospheric observatory for the ## EQU1 ## 39, infrared astronomy, or SOFIA.
"This was predicted 30 to 40 years ago by the first chemical models",
The first author of the study, Rolf Güsten of the Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy, told Gizmodo.
Scientists first had to check that the Universe could create such a molecule. Researchers in the 1970s hypothesized that nearby plasmas in planetary nebulae, dying stars surrounded by expelled materials, might contain helium hydride. However, scientists have faced challenges in discovering the molecule, questioning the fact that the molecule exists in space, according to the paper published today in Nature.
"Until recently, there was no technology to do it," explained Güsten. The wavelengths of light released by the molecule would be absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere.
Geoffrey Blake, a professor at the California Institute of Technology who did not participate in the study, told Gizmodo that scientists had not looked for the molecule in the early universe, which means the far-off universe because they had not even managed to find her nearby.
But now, NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have a custom Boeing 747, SOFIA, which has been prepared to perform the search.
According to a NASA fact sheet, SOFIA flies between 38,000 and 45,000 feet, more than 99% of parts of the infrared-absorbing atmosphere. The researchers deployed an instrument on SOFIA, called the German receiver for astronomy on terahertz frequencies (GREAT), and directed it to the planetary nebula NGC 7027, known to provide scientists with a number of 39, other discoveries in astrochemistry. After three flights in May 2016 and an analysis of the data, the work revealed the presence of helium hydride molecules in the nebula.
These results showed researchers that the Universe could actually form the molecule itself and allowed astronomers to better understand the early eras after the Big Bang. It's a big problem.
"I would say it's probably the most important discovery of the SOFIA observatory to date," Mike Barlow, a professor at University College London, told Gizmodo. did not participate in the research and who reviewed the document. He found the data convincing.
So no, they did not discover the exact first helium hydride, but now scientists may be able to go back to looking for the signature of more distant sources, Blake said. And it is good to know that research on the origins of chemistry has taken the right path. It's even cooler that the research is taking place on one of the less conventional telescopes.
[ad_2]
Source link