Ruth Dasso Marlaire

NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.             April 6, 2007

650-604-4709

rmarlaire@mail.arc.nasa.gov



RELEASE: 07-17AR



NASA FINDS EVIDENCE FOR NEW MOLECULAR STRUCTURE IN SPACE



MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. - NASA scientists have discovered evidence that a

mysterious red glow, seen throughout the Milky Way and other galaxies but

never on Earth, radiates from extremely fine dust clusters that cause the

glow by combining molecular forces that oppose each other.



Researchers theorize that the red glow, called the Extended Red Emission

(ERE), is due to a very unusual form of charged molecular clusters.

Measured in billionths of a meter (billionths of a yard), these tiny

clusters are made of carbon-rich molecules called polycyclic aromatic

hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are chicken-wire shaped. Astronomers have been

unable to explain the red glow for more than 30 years, even though PAHs

were implicated. The highly luminescent source material requires very harsh

ultraviolet radiation, a radiation field so strong that most known

polyatomic interstellar molecules would be destroyed. NASA Ames Research

Center has been a leader in the study of PAHs under the direction of Ames'

Astrochemistry Laboratory led by Dr. Louis Allamandola.



"We have been studying polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecules (PAHs) in

the laboratory at NASA Ames Research Center for a long time, and although I

had results that strongly supported the idea that PAHs had something to do

with the ERE, the experimental results made it clear that if PAHs were

involved, they were present in some as-yet unknown exotic form," said

Murthy Gudipati of the University of Maryland and NASA Ames, who recently

joined NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory after many years of close

collaboration with Allamandola.



"These types of highly reactive species are simply not readily accessible

for laboratory study, but need very special conditions," added Gudipati.

Through a combined effort of laboratory and theoretical chemistry

calculations, the current advance in knowledge was made.



Using advanced computational methods, scientists found that the red glow is

indeed carried by unusual clusters of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon

molecules. Highly developed tests confirm the presence of opposing

properties within each cluster; they are charged and highly reactive, yet

simultaneously, they have a stable, closed-shell electron configuration as

does any stable molecule on Earth.



Recent advances in theoretical techniques made it possible to tackle this

problem computationally.



"Significant difficulties involved in the modeling of charge transfer

within large molecular systems required an entirely new approach," said Dr.

Timothy Lee, astrochemist and chief of the Space Science and Astrobiology

Division at NASA Ames.



"Once we convinced ourselves that our new approach could handle these

strange particles, I was able to simulate the detailed emission process on

molecular systems much larger than any that had been done before," said

Young Min Rhee, postdoctoral fellow at the University of California,

Berkeley, and the lead author of the paper published last month in the

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "Our simulation shows that

this type of charged PAH cluster can account for the ERE while satisfying

the physical requirements necessary to survive the harsh interstellar

conditions" continued Rhee.



According to scientists, this research has important implications in other

areas as well, including combustion processes and exotic nano-materials.

For instance, the formation of soot particles produced by diesel and jet

engine combustion is not well understood. Self-forming PAH clusters may be

the key step to understanding this process.  Evidence suggests there is

closed-shell charged PAH ions in flames, and the highly robust yet unusual

closed-shell PAH clusters described here may be the soot nucleation sites

in flames, a result that has been long anticipated.



For more information, please visit:



<http://spacescience.arc.nasa.gov/redglow/>http://spacescience.arc.nasa.gov/redglow/



For more information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit:



  <http://www.nasa.gov/home>http://www.nasa.gov/home



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--


Ken



"Buddhism elucidates why we are sentient."

"Buddhism follows thought throughout the Universe."
"Karma means that you don't get away with anything."