Cosmic Buckyballs Could Be Mysterious Infrared Light Source
Scientists may have just traced the source of some of the mysterious infrared emission detected from stars and clouds of interstellar dust and gas. This Unknown Infrared Emission Band (UIE) has baffled scientists for decades; According to a new theoretical work, at least some of these bands could be produced by highly ionized buckminsterfullerene, better known as buckyballs. “I am very honored to have played a part in the extremely complex quantum chemical investigations carried out by Dr Sadjadi that have produced these very exciting results,” said astrophysicist Quentin Parker of the Space Research Laboratory of the University of Hong Kong. “First they looked at the theoretical evidence that Fullerenes – Carbon 60 – can withstand very high ionization rates, and now this work shows the infrared emission signature of the species is a perfect match for some of the most prominent Unknown Infrared Emission features known. This will help re-strengthen this area of research.” Buckminste