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Astrophysical Problems Involving Carbon Re-appraised
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 August 2017
Abstract
The molecule C60, Buckminsterfullerene, was discovered1-3 during laboratory experiments motivated by problems associated with processes involving carbon in stars and space4,5. Astronomical puzzles also lay behind the experiments which led to the molecule's extraction and structure confirmation6-8. Although the resulting breakthrough has opened up exciting new avenues of chemistry, physics and materials science here on earth9 the original astrophysical questions still remain and are even more tantalising now than they were before. Some of the puzzles are here re-addressed in the light of the new understanding which the fullerene discovery has brought. Indeed we shall look at the questions through magenta coloured spectacles and note that there are new and even more intriguing parallels between the behaviour of carbon on earth and space. The article contains a brief account of the processes responsible for the synthesis of carbon in stars and its dissemination throughout the Galaxy as this information is deemed necessary to gain an intrinsic understanding of the amazing role carbon plays in nature.
- Type
- Basic Studies
- Information
- Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 150: Astrochemistry of Cosmic Phenomena , 1992 , pp. 47 - 54
- Copyright
- Copyright © Kluwer 1992