Scientists Use JWST to Discover 'Dangling OH Ice' in the Universe
TapTechNews July 9th news, scientists from multiple research institutions including Radboud University observed for the first time in the universe the dangling OH ice structure with the help of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
This is a breakthrough discovery of human beings in the structure of space ice molecules, posing new riddles for understanding the ice in the universe (the basic components of comets and other frozen celestial bodies), and also helping to reveal the secrets of the chemical composition of life on Earth. The relevant research results have been published in the journal Nature Astronomy, and TapTechNews attaches the DOI: 10.1038/s41550-024-02307-7. The first author of the paper is Jenny Noble, a researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and a researcher at the Laboratory of Physics of Ion-Molecule Interactions and Aix-Marseille University in France.
This dangling OH (dOH) is usually formed due to the hydrogen (H) atom extending from the water molecules on the surface of water ice, and the observation results show that its surface area is much larger than what humans expected.
The Webb telescope's NIRCam infrared detector found dOH in spectral data from several different sources, and its spectral peak means that there are surface water molecules in space, and the ice in space has a larger surface area than expected.
Scientists at the Institute of Molecules and Materials (IMM) of Radboud University pointed out that these findings break through our current understanding of the structure of space ice and provide a rare opportunity to explore these fundamental molecular processes.
Professor Herma Cuppen said, Detecting and analyzing such detailed spectral features will enhance our understanding of the molecular structure in interstellar space. It is amazing to be able to obtain such detailed molecular information of ice in such distant space.
At present, the researchers have started a new project on this and will further study these observation results. They are trying to use simulations and theoretical models to explore the molecular structure and the conditions that lead to these unexpected observations.