Hostname: page-component-cc8bf7c57-5wl6q Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-12T05:31:38.632Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Synthesis of Organic Compounds in the Circumstellar Environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2017

Sun Kwok*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada T2N 1N4

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Recent developments in infrared spectroscopy have made possible the detection of the stretching and bending modes of organic molecules in space. Infrared emission bands of the C-C and C-H stretching and bending modes of aromatic compounds have been widely observed in carbon-rich planetary nebulae, the descendents of carbon stars. Infrared spectra of the transition objects between carbon stars and planetary nebulae, called proto-planetary nebulae, have shown definite signatures of a variety of aliphatic side-groups attached to aromatic rings. This suggests that molecular synthesis is actively ongoing in the circumstellar environment and the chemical nature of these compounds evolve over time scales as short as several hundred years.

Type
Astrochemistry
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2004 

References

Cernicharo, J., et al. 2001, ApJ, 546, L123 Google Scholar
Hrivnak, B.J., Volk, K., & Kwok, S. 2000, ApJ, 535, 275 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, A. P., Duley, W. W., Williams, D. A. 1990, QJRAS, 31, 567 Google Scholar
Kwok, S. 1993, ARA&A, 31, 63 Google Scholar
Kwok, S. 2000, The Origin and Evolution of Planetary Nebulae, (Cambridge: University Press)Google Scholar
Kwok, S. 2001, Cosmic Butterflies: the Colorful Mysteries of Planetary Nebulae, (Cambridge: University Press)Google Scholar
Kwok, S., Volk, K., & Bidelman, W. P. 1997, ApJS, 112, 557 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kwok, S., Volk, K., & Hrivnak, B. J. 1999, A&A, 350, L35 Google Scholar
Kwok, S., Volk, K., & Bernath, P. 2001, ApJ, 554, L87 Google Scholar
Papoular, R., Conard, J., Guillois, O, Nenner, I., Reynaud, C., Rouzaud, J.-N. 1996, A&A, 315, 222 Google Scholar
Sakata, A., Wada, S., Onaka, T., & Tokunaga, A.T. 1987, ApJ, 320, L63 Google Scholar