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Evidence Found of Buckyballs in the Interstellar Medium

posted by martyb on Tuesday April 30 2019, @04:41AM   Printer-friendly
from the having-a-ball-with-science dept.

takyon writes:

The Hubble Space Telescope Has Just Found Solid Evidence of Interstellar Buckyballs

In the bewildering quagmire that is the gas between the stars, the Hubble Space Telescope has identified evidence of ionised buckminsterfullerene, the carbon molecule known colloquially as "buckyballs".

Containing 60 carbon atoms arranged in a soccer ball shape, buckminsterfullerene (C60) occurs naturally here on Earth - in soot. But in 2010, it was also detected in a nebula; in 2012 [open, DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-3933.2012.01213.x] [DX], it was found in gas orbiting a star. Now we have the strongest evidence yet that it's also floating in the interstellar medium - the sparse, tenuous gas between the stars.

"Combined with prior, ground-based observations .. our Hubble Space Telescope spectra place the detection of interstellar [buckminsterfullerene] beyond reasonable doubt," the researchers wrote in their paper [open, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ab14e5] [DX].

Buckminsterfullerene.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 30 2019, @05:07PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 30 2019, @05:07PM (#836774)

    Ok so they found his balls, I knew Bucky was brought back during Endgame. Must be embarrassing but maybe he can ask Captain Marvel if she can fly up there and get them back for him.