NASA develops key to cosmic carbon's molecular evolution
Tuesday, May 14, 2013 - 15:01
in Astronomy & Space
(Phys.org) —Scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., now have the capability to systematically investigate the molecular evolution of cosmic carbon. For the first time, these scientists are able to automatically interpret previously unknown infrared emissions from space that come from surprisingly complex organic molecules, called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are abundant and important across the universe.