Free Astronomy Magazine November-December 2023

NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2023 ity of the chemistry occurring as these regions eventually develop into full solar systems like our own. The presence and forms of carbon in star-forming regions are, of course, of great interest to astrochemists, bi- ologists and exobiologists alike. Most discussions surrounding the po- tential for life or the necessary ingre- dients for life at some location tend to focus heavily on the presence or absence of liquid water, H 2 O. Water is deemed a critical ingredient be- cause it provides a chemical medium within which biologically-important molecules, such as amino acids and nucleic acids, as well as their ex- tended peptide chains and DNA/RNA strands, can dissolve and engage in various chemical operations with one another. While water is the foundational medium within which the complex chemistry of life has been shown to take place (albeit only here on Earth), it is the strength and stabil- ity of the carbon bonds that make up the internal frameworks of the O livier Berné, of the French National Center for Scientific Research, led the team that discov- ered the methyl cation in the planet- forming disk named d203-506. T hese Webb images show a part of the Orion Nebula known as the Orion Bar. It is a region where energetic ultraviolet light from the Trapezium Cluster — located off the upper-left corner — interacts with dense molecular clouds. The energy of the stellar radiation is slowly eroding the Orion Bar, and this has a profound effect on the molecules and chemistry in the protoplanetary disks that have formed around newborn stars here. The largest image, on the left, is from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument. At upper right, the telescope is focused on a smaller area using Webb’s MIRI (Mid-In- frared Instrument). A total of eighteen filters across both the MIRI and NIRCam instruments were used in these images, covering a range of wavelengths from 1.4 microns in the near-infrared to 25.5 microns in the mid-infrared. At the very center of the MIRI area is a young star system with a planet-forming disk named d203-506. The pullout at the bottom right displays a combined NIRCam and MIRI image of this young system. Its extended shape is due to pressure from the harsh ultraviolet radiation striking it. An international team of astronomers detected a new carbon molecule known as methyl cation for the first time in d203-506. [ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb), PDRs4ALL ERS Team]