From ESA: “Herschel spies active argon in Crab Nebula”

European Space Agency

12 December 2013
Michael J. Barlow
Department of Physics & Astronomy
University College London
London, UK
Email: mjbstar.ucl.ac.uk
Phone: +44-20-7679-7160
Mobile: +44-77-5894-5482

Bruce M. Swinyard
Department of Physics & Astronomy
University College London
London, UK
Email: bmsstar.ucl.ac.uk; bruce.swinyardstfc.ac.uk
Phone: +44-20-7679-1352
Mobile: +44-79-0834-3567

Göran Pilbratt
Herschel Project Scientist
Research and Scientific Support Department
Science and Robotic Exploration Directorate
ESA, The Netherlands
Email: gpilbrattrssd.esa.int
Phone: +31-71-565-3621

Using ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory, a team of astronomers has found first evidence of a noble-gas based molecule in space. A compound of argon, the molecule was detected in the gaseous filaments of the Crab Nbula, one of the most famous supernova remnants in our Galaxy. While argon is a product of supernova explosions, the formation and survival of argon-based molecules in the harsh environment of a supernova remnant is an unforeseen surprise.

Herschel image and spectrum of the Crab Nebula, with emission lines from the molecular ion argon hydride.
Credit: ESA/Herschel/PACS, SPIRE/MESS Key Programme Supernova Remnant Team

Just like a group of people, the periodic table of chemical elements has its share of team players and loners. While some elements tend to react more easily with other species, forming molecules and other compounds, others hardly ever take part in chemical reactions and are mainly found in isolation. ‘Inert’ elements par excellence are the noble gases: helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon and radon.

Periodic table of chemical elements

The name of one of them – argon – derives from the Greek word for idle, to emphasise its highly inert nature. But noble gases are not entirely inactive. While at first scientists doubted that chemical compounds could even contain noble gases, several such species are now known and have been extensively studied in the laboratory.

Things are more complex in space. Over the decades, astronomers have detected atoms and ions of noble gases in a variety of cosmic environments, ranging from the Solar System to the atmospheres of stars, from dense nebulae to the diffuse interstellar medium. But the search for noble-gas based compounds had until now proved unsuccessful, suggesting that these almost inert elements might have a hard time reacting with other species in space.

A new study, led by Michael Barlow from University College London, UK, and based on data from ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory, has found the first evidence of such a compound in space. The results are published in the journal Science.

See the full article here.

The European Space Agency (ESA), established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 19 member states. Headquartered in Paris, ESA has a staff of more than 2,000. ESA’s space flight program includes human spaceflight, mainly through the participation in the International Space Station program, the launch and operations of unmanned exploration missions to other planets and the Moon, Earth observation, science, telecommunication as well as maintaining a major spaceport, the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou, French Guiana, and designing launch vehicles. ESA science missions are based at ESTEC in Noordwijk, Netherlands, Earth Observation missions at ESRIN in Frascati, Italy, ESA Mission Control (ESOC) is in Darmstadt, Germany, the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) that trains astronauts for future missions is situated in Cologne, Germany, and the European Space Astronomy Centre is located in Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain.

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