The dwarf galaxy in the Large Magellanic Cloud has discovered the most complex organic matter ever found outside the Milky Way.
New observations made with the Atacama Large Millimeter / submillimeter Array (ALMA) radio telescope complex in the Atacama Desert prove that interstellar matter in the Large Magellanic Cloud contains molecules of rather complex organic substances, consisting of carbon, nitrogen and oxygen atoms - methanol, dimethyl ether and methyl formate.
Astronomers consider all elements heavier than lithium to be heavy and call them "metals." Such elements are formed mainly as a result of supernova explosions, therefore, in order for complex chemical compounds to appear in interstellar matter, it is necessary for many supernovae to explode in the galaxy, perhaps more than one generation.
The Large Magellanic Cloud is one-tenth the diameter of our Galaxy and contains only one-twentieth of the number of stars in the Milky Way. Such small size and mass do not promise a wide variety of chemical elements and their compounds; Until now, it was believed that there is relatively little carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and their derivatives in LMC.
Methyl formate, the methyl ester of formic acid found in LMC, is by far the highest molecular weight found outside our Galaxy. In the interstellar matter of the Milky Way, there are also more complex organics: aromatic hydrocarbons and even amino acids.
Astronomers have obtained spectra of methyl formate by observing the Large Magellanic Cloud in the millimeter range. The radiation source is two regions with an increased density of matter, where an active process of formation of new stars is taking place; these regions are known as hot cores. Where scientists have found methyl formate, new stars are about to light up. Organics have a chance to survive these events and find themselves inside the protoplanetary disk, and then become part of the planets, which, possibly, will form around the newborn stars.
The low metallicity (amount of metals) in the LMC makes it a model of how the early galaxies, which had not yet managed to accumulate many heavy elements, developed. The age of the BMO itself is not so small, its properties are explained rather by its small mass. And the relatively small distance from the Earth (160 thousand light years) makes it also a convenient object for study. This observation will allow astronomers to more accurately model the processes that led to the creation of the first complex molecules in the early stages of the universe.
The study is published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters and is briefly reported on the website of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, Virginia.
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