September 20, 2012

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Dave Finley, Public Information Officer
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GRAPHICS and VIDEO: Astrochemistry Enters a Bold New Era with ALMA

Matching the "Fingerprints" -- Plot of radio emission at numerous frequencies from the molecule ethyl cyanide (CH3CH2CN). Blue is the plot from terrestrial laboratory measurement; red is the plot from ALMA observation of a star-forming region in the constellation Orion. The ability to do this type of matching represents a major breakthrough for studying the chemistry of the Universe. Plots are superimposed on Hubble Space Telescope image of the Orion Nebula; small box indicates location of area observed with ALMA.
Credit: Fortman, et al., NRAO/AUI/NSF, NASA

Above image, JPEG, 258 KB

Above image, High-Resolution TIFF, 17.3 MB




Video Interview and Animations with Dr. Anthony Remijan of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, on the significance of this new research technique:



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