本帖最后由 叶程婉 于 2011-7-8 21:20 编辑
http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1123/
Molecules of hydrogen peroxide have been found for the first time in interstellar space. The discovery gives clues about the chemical link between two molecules critical for life: water and oxygen. On Earth, hydrogen peroxide plays a key role in the chemistry of water and ozone in our planet’s atmosphere, and is familiar for its use as a disinfectant or to bleach hair blonde. Now it has been detected in space by astronomers using the ESO-operated APEX telescope in Chile.
星际空间中首次发现了过氧化氢分子。这为水分子和氧分子——形成生命的两个关键分子——之间的化学联系提供了线索。在地球上,过氧化氢在地球大气的臭氧和水分子之间的化学反应当中扮演了关键角色。过氧化氢通常用来做消毒剂和染发的漂白剂,现在被天文学家通过智利的欧洲南方天文台(ESO)的APEX望远镜在空间中发现。
An international team of astronomers made the discovery with the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment telescope (APEX), situated on the 5000-metre-high Chajnantor plateau in the Chilean Andes. They observed a region in our galaxy close to the star Rho Ophiuchi, about 400 light-years away. The region contains very cold (around -250 degrees Celsius), dense clouds of cosmic gas and dust, in which new stars are being born. The clouds are mostly made of hydrogen, but contain traces of other chemicals, and are prime targets for astronomers hunting for molecules in space. Telescopes such as APEX, which make observations of light at millimetre- and submillimetre-wavelengths, are ideal for detecting the signals from these molecules.
阿塔卡马探路者实验望远镜(APEX)位于智利安第斯山脉海拔5000米的拉诺德查南托高原.一个国际天文小组观察了银河系当中位于心宿增四附近的恒星形成区域,该区域距离地球大约400光年远,包含着冰冷浓密的宇宙尘埃和气体(大约负250摄氏度),这一星云主要由氢元素购成,但是也包含了其他化学元素的踪迹,天文学家的主要目标是用寻找星际空间中的分子。像APEX这样用于观测毫米波和亚毫米波段的望远镜,是用于探测这些分子信号的理想工具.
Now, the team has found the characteristic signature of light emitted by hydrogen peroxide, coming from part of the Rho Ophiuchi clouds.
现在,这一小组已经发现了来自于心宿增四星云的过氧化氢发射出的特有信号。
“We were really excited to discover the signatures of hydrogen peroxide with APEX. We knew from laboratory experiments which wavelengths to look for, but the amount of hydrogen peroxide in the cloud is just one molecule for every ten billion hydrogen molecules, so the detection required very careful observations,” says Per Bergman, astronomer at Onsala Space Observatory in Sweden. Bergman is lead author of the study, which is published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
来自瑞典翁萨拉空间天文台的Per Bergman表示说:“我们对于APEX发现过氧化氢信号非常兴奋,我们知道实验设备的观测波长非常适合于观察低温物体,但是星云当中的过氧化氢分子和氢分子的比例只有100亿分之一,因此观察需要非常细致”Bergman是这项研究的首席作者,这一研究已经发表在天文和天体物理学报上面
Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a key molecule for both astronomers and chemists. Its formation is closely linked to two other familiar molecules, oxygen and water, which are critical for life. Because much of the water on our planet is thought to have originally formed in space, scientists are keen to understand how it is created [1].
Hydrogen peroxide is thought to form in space on the surfaces of cosmic dust grains — very fine particles similar to sand and soot — when hydrogen (H) is added to oxygen molecules (O2). A further reaction of the hydrogen peroxide with more hydrogen is one way to produce water (H2O). This new detection of hydrogen peroxide will therefore help astronomers better understand the formation of water in the Universe.
过氧化氢对于天文学家和化学家来说都是关键分子,它的形成连接着两种常见分子,氧分子和水,这对于生命的形成相当关键。因为地球上大量的水被认为是在太空中形成的,科学家急于理解它是如何形成的
过氧化氢被认为是在太空中宇宙尘埃的表面形成的。当氢元素与氧分子结合,过氧化氢分子与更多的氢原子进一步结合就会产生水。过氧化氢的发现有助于天文学家更好的理解宇宙中的水是如何形成的。
“We don’t understand yet how some of the most important molecules here on Earth are made in space. But our discovery of hydrogen peroxide with APEX seems to be showing us that cosmic dust is the missing ingredient in the process,” says Bérengère Parise, head of the Emmy Noether research group on star formation and astrochemistry at the Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany, and a co-author of the paper.
德国艾美-诺特行星形成及星际化学研究会负责人Bérengère Parise称,我们并不理解地球上存在的一些重要分子在太空中如何形成的,但我们通过APEX望远镜发现过氧化氢显示宇宙尘埃是该过程中未探测到的重要成分。Bérengère Parise也是这一论文的合作作者。
To work out just how the origins of these important molecules are intertwined will need more observations of Rho Ophiuchi and other star-forming clouds with future telescopes such as the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) — and help from chemists in laboratories on Earth.
APEX is a collaboration between the Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR), the Onsala Space Observatory (OSO) and ESO. The telescope is operated by ESO.
APEX望远镜是德国马克斯·普朗克射电天文学会、瑞典翁萨拉空间天文台和欧洲南方天文台(ESO)的合作产物,该望远镜由ESO负责运作。
Notes
[1] The new discovery of hydrogen peroxide may also help astronomers understand another interstellar mystery: why oxygen molecules are so hard to find in space. It was only in 2007 that oxygen molecules were first discovered in space, by the satellite Odin.
这一新发现有助于天文学家理解另外一个星际间的神秘现象:为何氧分子在空间中极其难以发现。星际空间中的氧分子直到2007年才被Odin卫星发现。
More information
This research is published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
The team is composed of P. Bergman (Onsala Space Observatory, Chalmers University of Technology, Onsala, Sweden), B. Parise (Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Bonn, Germany), R. Liseau (Chalmers University of Technology, Onsala, Sweden), B. Larsson (Stockholm University, Sweden), H. Olofsson (Onsala Space Observatory, Chalmers University of Technology), K. M. Menten (Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy) and R. Güsten (Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy).
ESO, the European Southern Observatory, is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive astronomical observatory. It is supported by 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world’s most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world’s largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is the European partner of a revolutionary astronomical telescope ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. ESO is currently planning a 40-metre-class European Extremely Large optical/near-infrared Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”.
Links
Research paper (Astronomy & Astrophysics)
About the APEX telescope, from ESO
The APEX science website
More on ALMA from ESO
The Joint ALMA Observatory website
The Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy press release (English, German)
Chalmers press release (English, Swedish)
Contacts
Per Bergman
Onsala Space Observatory / Chalmers University of Technology
Sweden
Tel: +46 31 772 5500
Cell: +46 70 239 1741
Email: per.bergman@chalmers.se
Bérengère Parise
Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy
Bonn, Germany
Tel: +49 228 525 153
Email: bparise@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de
Douglas Pierce-Price
ESO, Public Information Officer
Garching, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6759
Email: dpiercep@eso.org |