IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v447y2007i7148d10.1038_nature05905.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Chemical complexity in the winds of the oxygen-rich supergiant star VY Canis Majoris

Author

Listed:
  • L. M. Ziurys

    (NASA Astrobiology Institute,
    Department of Astronomy/Steward Observatory,
    Arizona Radio Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue
    University of Arizona, 1306 East University Boulevard, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA)

  • S. N. Milam

    (NASA Astrobiology Institute,
    Department of Astronomy/Steward Observatory,
    University of Arizona, 1306 East University Boulevard, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA)

  • A. J. Apponi

    (NASA Astrobiology Institute,
    Department of Astronomy/Steward Observatory,
    University of Arizona, 1306 East University Boulevard, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA)

  • N. J. Woolf

    (NASA Astrobiology Institute,
    Department of Astronomy/Steward Observatory,)

Abstract

Things got complicated... Organic molecules are widely distributed in the Universe, yet with oxygen so much more abundant than carbon, shouldn't most of the carbon have been snapped up and incorporated into carbon monoxide? The new generation of receivers for millimetre-wave radio astronomy is beginning to reveal some of the chemical complexity that ensured that this did not happen. Observations of the red supergiant star VY Canis Majoris show that in the limited environment of the outflow from an oxygen-rich star, only half the carbon is contained in CO. The remaining half is in HCN, a molecule fundamental to organic synthesis, and other C-bearing species, demonstrating an active carbon chemistry.

Suggested Citation

  • L. M. Ziurys & S. N. Milam & A. J. Apponi & N. J. Woolf, 2007. "Chemical complexity in the winds of the oxygen-rich supergiant star VY Canis Majoris," Nature, Nature, vol. 447(7148), pages 1094-1097, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:447:y:2007:i:7148:d:10.1038_nature05905
    DOI: 10.1038/nature05905
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature05905
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature05905?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:447:y:2007:i:7148:d:10.1038_nature05905. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.