September 20, 2012
Contact:
Dave Finley, Public Information Officer
Socorro, NM
(575) 835-7302
dfinley@nrao.edu
GRAPHICS and VIDEO: Astrochemistry Enters a Bold New Era with ALMA
Matching the "Fingerprints" -- Plot of radio emission at numerous frequencies from the molecule ethyl cyanide (CH3CH2CN). Blue is the plot from terrestrial laboratory measurement; red is the plot from ALMA observation of a star-forming region in the constellation Orion. The ability to do this type of matching represents a major breakthrough for studying the chemistry of the Universe. Plots are superimposed on Hubble Space Telescope image of the Orion Nebula; small box indicates location of area observed with ALMA.
Credit: Fortman, et al., NRAO/AUI/NSF, NASA
Above image, High-Resolution TIFF, 17.3 MB
Video Interview and Animations with Dr. Anthony Remijan of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, on the significance of this new research technique:
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
Copyright © 2009 Associated Universities, Inc.