Rotating Ring of Complex Molecules Found Around Newborn Star

The Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) made another fascinating discovery; the device detected a rotating ring made up of organic molecules formed around a newborn star or protostar.

This is a definitive proof that organic materials along the interstellar space were also brought into the planet-forming region. Aside from that, the researchers were also able to determine that the organic molecular species found around newborn stars differs from one protostar to another. Employing a study on chemical composition is the latest way of studying and answering if the Solar System is a typical model of a planetary system.

The existence of organic molecule floating on gas clouds between star has long been discovered by science. Astronomers believe that when the Solar System was formed 4.6 billion years ago, some organic molecules were dragged from the spaces between stars fo the planet-forming disk. And molecules greatly influenced that chemical evolution that paved the way for the life on Earth.

But astronomers are still investigating the types and the amount of organic molecules from interstellar space, however, there are signs that methanol (CH3OH) and methyl formate (HCOOCH3) were present but are too compact to be resolved by old radio telescopes. But with new technologies today, these occurrences can now be scrutinized further like the ALMA.

A team from the University of Tokyo led a study on the distribution of organic molecules around protostar or newborn star IRAS 16293-2422A. In the study, they discovered that a ring structure made up of complex molecules surround the protostar. The ring is believed to be 50 times wider than the Earth's orbit, almost the size of the Solar System.

"When we measured the motion of the gas containing methyl formate by using the Doppler effect," Yoko Oya, a graduate student at the University of Tokyo said in a statement.  "We found a clear rotation motion specific to the ring structure," Oya added.

Some of the molecules are saturated, formed in interstellar space and are preserved in the dust grains. Some evaporate due to collisions of the disk and infalling materials due to heat by the newborn star, as reported by Eurekalert.

The result of their study is the first direct evidence that interstellar organic materials are fed into rotating disk structure that will eventually turn into a planetary system. When compared to older studies, the result is evident that the materials differ from different protostars.