Astrochemistry Insights in Science Magazine, by Christine Joblin and José Cernicharo

Cone Nebula (NGC 2264) Credits: NASA, H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (UCSC/LO), M.Clampin (STScI), G. Hartig (STScI), the ACS Science Team, and ESA.

Detecting the building blocks of aromatics” is the title of this “Insight” written by Christine Joblin and José Cernicharo (both NANOCOSMOS PIs together with J.A. Martín Gago) and talking about the history and importance of the work published by Brett A. McGuire et al. (“Detection of the aromatic molecule benzonitrile (c-C6H5CN) in the interstellar medium“) in the “Science Magazine” (12/01/2018).

This is the summary of the article from C. Joblin and J. Cernicharo:

“Interstellar clouds are sites of active organic chemistry. Many small, gasphase molecules are found in the dark parts of the clouds that are protected from ultraviolet (UV) photons, but these molecules photodissociate in the external layers of the cloud that are exposed to stellar radiation (see the photo). These irradiated regions are populated by large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with characteristic infrared (IR) emission features. These large aromatics are expected to form from benzene (C6H6), which is, however, difficult to detect because it does not have a permanent dipole moment and can only be detected via its IR absorption transitions against a strong background source (2). On page 202 of this issue, McGuire et al. (3) report the detection of benzonitrile (c-C6H5CN) with radio telescopes. Benzonitrile likely forms in the reaction of CN with benzene; from its observation, it is therefore possible to estimate the abundance of benzene itself”.

 

Christine Joblin in a Nanocosmos illustrated talk

Last Saturday, the 2nd edition of the “Illustrated talks” organized by ERCcOMICS took place at Jussieu Campus in Paris with the artist Lorenzo Palloni and the researcher Christine Joblin (one of our Principal Investigators) in the “Fête de la Science 2017” (Science Party). It was an amazing opportunity to share the astronomy and astrophysics behind the Nancosmos project, that has already a comic inspired in its science. This “Fête de la Science” is a celebration of science and technology and thousands of individuals get involved, providing general public the opportunity to discover the wonders of science. “Illustrated talks” are talks where the artist illustrates the scientist live while talking about the project. Congratulations for this outreach initiative!

Watch the full illustrated talk (in french) by Christine Joblin (research director at CNRS Toulouse) & comics artist Lorenzo Palloni at the Fête de la Science in PARIS, Campus de Jussieu, on the 14th of October 2017.

Here, some pictures from the 2nd edition of the illustrated talks with the artist Lorenzo Palloni and the researchers Christine Joblin (ERC Nanocosmos).

Christine Joblin, one of Nanocosmos’ Principal Investigators, participates in an illustrated talk during the “Fête de la Science” last 14th of October in Paris.

“Estrella” (Star in Spanish) is the name of the comic inspired by Nanocosmos.

Christine Joblin during the illustrated talk in Paris.

Lorenzo Palloni is the artist that gave life to the comic inspired by Nanocosmos “Estrella” and draw the stories live during the illustrated talk.

‘Estrella’, a comic inspired by Nanocosmos

homepage-banner-estrella-1The first chapter of ‘Estrella’ is out!

‘Estrella’ is a comic developed by an ERC proyect called ERCcOMIC and inspired by Nanocosmos. As the comic team believes in the power of visual storytelling, they illustrate each in a concrete, memorable and engaging way, drawing inspiration from science through stories and images.

The story of ‘Estrella’, by the artist Lorenzo Palloni, is set in 2106, and mankind is radically evolving. The NANOCOSMOS project has changed the path of astrochemistry and astrophysics, and now is the time for an elderly Estrella Leroux to pass the torch to three young scientists. Yet the story of an impossible journey of a young Estrella as a child inside the “Stardust” (a groundbreaking machine that reproduces the processes of a dying star) calls everything into question. The three budding stargazers will discover that their destiny is bound up with the mysterious Estrella’s, on the border between a surprising past and a never-so-uncertain future!

Don’t miss the story of Estrella and enjoy!

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AROMA Setup First Results

The AROMA Setup

In the framework of the Nanocosmos ERC synergy project, a new analytical experimental setup called AROMA (Astrochemistry Research of Organics with Molecular Analyzer) was developed. The main purpose of this setup is to study and identify, with micro-scale resolution, the molecular content of cosmic dust analogues, including the stardust analogues that will be produced in the Nanocosmos Stardust machine in Madrid. AROMA combines laser desorption/ionization (LDI) techniques with a linear ion trap coupled to an orthogonal time of flight mass spectrometer (LQIT-oTOF). A first paper “Identification of PAH Isomeric Structure in Cosmic Dust Analogues: the AROMA setup” has just been published in The Astrophysical Journal. This is the first time that two-step LDI is coupled to a linear ion trap with MS/MS capabilities. In MS/MS experiments ions are first stored in a trap and then are fragmented under the action of photon or collision activation. The resulting fragments are then detected by mass spectrometry providing information on the molecular structure of the parent species.

The article presents the performances of AROMA with its ability to detect with very high sensitivity aromatic species in complex materials of astrophysical interest and characterize their structures. A two-step LDI technique was used, in which desorption and ionization are achieved using two different lasers which are separated in time and space. The tests performed with pure polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) samples have shown a limit of detection of 100 femto-grams, which corresponds to 2×108 molecules in the case of coronene (C24H12). We detected a mixture of PAH small and medium-sized PAHs in the Murchison meteorite that contains a complex mixture of extraterrestrial organic compounds. In addition, collision induced dissociation experiments were performed on selected species detected in Murchison, which led to the first firm identification of pyrene (C16H10) and its methylated derivatives in this sample.

AROMA setup, being highly sensitive, selective, spatially resolved, and owing the MS/MS capabilities enables unique chemical characterization of aromatic species in cosmic dust analogues and extraterrestrial samples. Changing the ionization source will enlarge the scope of investigated chemical species. In the future, it will be used to analyze samples from the Stardust machine, other laboratory analogues and cosmic materials such as meteorites, and interplanetary dust particles. Currently, we are developing an imaging source that will allow us to analyze samples using LDI with micrometer spatial resolution.

More information:

This research was presented in the paper “Identification of PAH Isomeric Structure in Cosmic Dust Analogs: The AROMA Setup“, published in the Astrophysical Journal (APJ), 843:34 (8pp), 2017 July 1.  The authors are Hassan Sabbah (Université de Toulouse, UPS-OMP, Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP); CNRS, IRAP; LCAR, Université de Toulouse, UPS-IRSAMC, CNRS, France), Anthony Bonnamy (Université de Toulouse, UPS-OMP, IRAP; CNRS, IRAP, France), Dimitris Papanastasiou (Fasmatech Science + Technology, Greece), Jose Cernicharo (Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM), CSIC, Spain), Jose-Angel Martín-Gago (ICMM-CSIC, Spain), and Christine Joblin (Université de Toulouse, UPS-OMP, IRAP; CNRS, IRAP, France).