ALMA detection and astrobiological potential of vinyl cyanide on Titan
| Autor: | Michael J. Mumma, Steven B. Charnley, Nicholas A Teanby, Martin A. Cordiner, M. Y. Palmer, Patrick G. J. Irwin, Zbigniew Kisiel, Conor A. Nixon |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2017 |
| Předmět: |
Materials science
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences Cyanide Mole fraction Mass spectrometry 01 natural sciences Submillimeter Array Astrobiology symbols.namesake chemistry.chemical_compound hemic and lymphatic diseases 0103 physical sciences 010303 astronomy & astrophysics Research Articles 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Multidisciplinary organic chemicals technology industry and agriculture SciAdv r-articles Membrane chemistry symbols Millimeter Spectroscopic detection Titan (rocket family) Research Article |
| Zdroj: | Palmer, M Y, Cordiner, M A, Nixon, C A, Charnley, S B, Teanby, N A, Kisiel, Z, Irwin, P G J & Mumma, M J 2017, ' ALMA detection and astrobiological potential of vinyl cyanide on Titan ', Science Advances, vol. 3, no. 7, e1700022 . https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1700022 Science Advances |
| Popis: | We have discovered vinyl cyanide—a molecule that may be able to form cell-like membranes in lakes of hydrocarbon—on Titan. Recent simulations have indicated that vinyl cyanide is the best candidate molecule for the formation of cell membranes/vesicle structures in Titan’s hydrocarbon-rich lakes and seas. Although the existence of vinyl cyanide (C2H3CN) on Titan was previously inferred using Cassini mass spectrometry, a definitive detection has been lacking until now. We report the first spectroscopic detection of vinyl cyanide in Titan’s atmosphere, obtained using archival data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), collected from February to May 2014. We detect the three strongest rotational lines of C2H3CN in the frequency range of 230 to 232 GHz, each with >4σ confidence. Radiative transfer modeling suggests that most of the C2H3CN emission originates at altitudes of ≳200 km, in agreement with recent photochemical models. The vertical column densities implied by our best-fitting models lie in the range of 3.7 × 1013 to 1.4 × 1014 cm−2. The corresponding production rate of vinyl cyanide and its saturation mole fraction imply the availability of sufficient dissolved material to form ~107 cell membranes/cm3 in Titan’s sea Ligeia Mare. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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