Soccer Balls in Interstellar Space
| Science
An international team of astronomers led by Masaaki Otsuka (Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics or ASIAA) has detected the C60 fullerene (molecules of carbon with 60 atoms arranged in patterns resembling a soccer ball) (Note 1) in the dying star M1-11. Data from the Subaru Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope (SST), the Very Large Telescope (VLT), the 1.88 m telescope at the Okayama Astrophysical Observatory (OAO), and the Japanese infrared astronomy satellite AKARI all contributed to this finding, which takes scientists closer to understanding the prevalence and formation of C60 in space.
Link
- [Subaru Telescope] Soccer Balls in Interstellar Space
- [The Astrophysical Journal] THE DETECTION OF C60 IN THE WELL-CHARACTERIZED PLANETARY NEBULA M1-11
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