The discovery of diffuse interstellar bands 13 with longer wavelengths detected to date could be the key to solving a mystery 90 years old. In addition, the finding supports recent hypotheses about the presence of large molecules, possibly organic, hidden in clouds of interstellar dust.
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For 90 years, diffuse interstellar bands are being detected by analyzing the starlight. No matter which direction you point a telescope in the light from virtually anywhere in the universe are detected. Its existence reveals that the light passes through clouds of gas and dust with a very complex chemical composition.
Diffuse interstellar bands have been a puzzle since its discovery 90 years ago. The 500 bands identified before the new study are presented, mostly at wavelengths of visible light and near-infrared (IR segment closest to the visible light spectrum). The observed lines do not match the lines intended for simple molecules, and are not attributable to a single carrier.
The absorption lines of low energy discovered by the team of Paco Najarro, Department of Astrophysics at the Centre for Astrobiology in Madrid, Spain, Donald Figer, director of the Center for Detectors at Rochester Institute of Technology, USA, and Thomas Geballe of Gemini Observatory (composed of telescopes in Chile and Hawaii), tighten the net around the nature of diffuse interstellar bands, allowing some of the possibilities rule about their origin. From now on, future theoretical models of the wavelengths absorbed by these mysterious particles should accommodate these lower energies.
The observations in different galactic directions indicate that the material responsible for diffuse interstellar bands these “survive” in very different physical conditions of temperature and density.
According to recent hypotheses on diffuse interstellar bands, they point to the abundance of organic molecules in interstellar space. This, coupled with other evidence, supports the theory that the chemical seeds of life originated in space and then “poured” on the planets.
