Nature Astronomy

, volume 7 , issue 4 , pages 431-443

An Ice Age JWST inventory of dense molecular cloud ices

Melissa McClure ¹

Will R. M. Rocha ²

K. M. Pontoppidan ³

Nicolas Crouzet ¹

Laurie E. U. Chu ⁴

E. Dartois ⁵

T. Lamberts ^{1, 6}

J. A. Noble ⁷

Y. J. Pendleton ⁸

Giulia Perotti ⁹

Danna Qasim ¹⁰

M. G. Rachid ²

Z L Smith ¹¹

Fengwu Sun ¹²

Tracy L. Beck ³

A. C. A. Boogert ¹³

W. A. Brown ¹⁴

Paola Caselli ¹⁵

S. B. Charnley ¹⁶

H. M. Cuppen ¹⁷

H. Dickinson ¹¹

Maria Drozdovskaya ¹⁸

E. Egami ¹²

Jessica Erkal ¹³

H. J. Fraser ¹¹

R. T. Garrod ¹⁹

Daniel Harsono ²⁰

Sergio Ioppolo ²¹

Izaskun Jiménez-Serra ²²

Mihwa Jin ^{16, 23}

J. K. Jorgensen ²⁴

Lars E. Kristensen ²⁴

D. C. Lis ²⁵

M. R. S. McCoustra ²⁶

Brett A. McGuire ^{27, 28}

G. J. Melnick ²⁹

Karin Öberg ²⁹

M. E. Palumbo ³⁰

T Shimonishi ³¹

Ardjan Sturm ¹

E. F. van Dishoeck ¹

H. Linnartz ²

Hide authors affiliations Show authors affiliations: 31 affiliations

Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands |

Laboratory for Astrophysics, Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands |

Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, USA |

⁴

NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, USA |

⁵

Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d’Orsay, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France |

⁶

Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Gorlaeus Laboratories, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands |

⁷

Physique des Interactions Ioniques et Moléculaires, CNRS, Aix Marseille Université, Marseille, France |

⁸

Department of Physics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, USA |

⁹

Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany |

¹⁰

Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, USA |

¹¹

School of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK |

¹²

Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA |

¹³

Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Honolulu, USA |

¹⁴

Department of Chemistry, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK |

¹⁵

Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Garching bei München, Germany |

¹⁶

Solar System Exploration Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, USA |

¹⁷

Radboud University, Institute for Molecules and Materials, Nijmegen, the Netherlands |

¹⁸

Center for Space and Habitability, Universität Bern, Bern, Switzerland |

¹⁹

Departments of Astronomy and Chemistry, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA |

²⁰

Institute of Astronomy, Department of Physics, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan |

²¹

Center for Interstellar Catalysis, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark |

²²

Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain

Spanish Astrobiology Center

National Institute for Aerospace Technology

²³

Department of Physics, Catholic University of America, Washington DC, USA |

²⁴

Niels Bohr institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark |

²⁵

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA

California Institute of Technology

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

²⁶

Institute of Chemical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland |

²⁷

Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA |

²⁸

National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, USA |

²⁹

Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, USA |

³⁰

INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania, Catania, Italy

National Institute for Astrophysics

Catania Astrophysical Observatory

³¹

Faculty of Science, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan |

Publication type: Journal Article

Publication date: 2023-01-23

Springer Nature

Nature Astronomy

scimago Q1

wos Q1

SJR: 4.006

CiteScore: 22.9

Impact factor: 14.3

ISSN: 23973366

DOI: 10.1038/s41550-022-01875-w

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Astronomy and Astrophysics

Abstract

Icy grain mantles are the main reservoir of the volatile elements that link chemical processes in dark, interstellar clouds with the formation of planets and the composition of their atmospheres. The initial ice composition is set in the cold, dense parts of molecular clouds, before the onset of star formation. With the exquisite sensitivity of the James Webb Space Telescope, this critical stage of ice evolution is now accessible for detailed study. Here we show initial results of the Early Release Science programme Ice Age that reveal the rich composition of these dense cloud ices. Weak ice features, including 13CO2, OCN−, 13CO, OCS and complex organic molecule functional groups, are now detected along two pre-stellar lines of sight. The 12CO2 ice profile indicates modest growth of the icy grains. Column densities of the major and minor ice species indicate that ices contribute between 2% and 19% of the bulk budgets of the key C, O, N and S elements. Our results suggest that the formation of simple and complex molecules could begin early in a water-ice-rich environment. Using JWST, the molecules seen in planetary atmospheres can be traced back to their cold origins in ices formed in dense interstellar clouds, before the onset of star formation, revealing that chemical diversity and complexity is achieved early.

Found

1 citation

Qi Chunhua

127 publications, 10 020 citations

h-index: 55

Boston University

1 citation

Tabone Benoît

92 publications, 1 735 citations

h-index: 24

Université Paris-Saclay

Leiden University

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GOST Copy

McClure M. et al. An Ice Age JWST inventory of dense molecular cloud ices // Nature Astronomy. 2023. Vol. 7. No. 4. pp. 431-443.

GOST all authors (up to 50) Copy

McClure M., Rocha W. R. M., Pontoppidan K. M., Crouzet N., Chu L. E. U., Dartois E., Lamberts T., Noble J. A., Pendleton Y. J., Perotti G., Qasim D., Rachid M. G., Smith Z. L., Sun F., Beck T. L., Boogert A. C. A., Brown W. A., Caselli P., Charnley S. B., Cuppen H. M., Dickinson H., Drozdovskaya M., Egami E., Erkal J., Fraser H. J., Garrod R. T., Harsono D., Ioppolo S., Jiménez-Serra I., Jin M., Jorgensen J. K., Kristensen L. E., Lis D. C., McCoustra M. R. S., McGuire B. A., Melnick G. J., Öberg K., Palumbo M. E., Shimonishi T., Sturm A., van Dishoeck E. F., Linnartz H. An Ice Age JWST inventory of dense molecular cloud ices // Nature Astronomy. 2023. Vol. 7. No. 4. pp. 431-443.

RIS |

Cite this

RIS Copy

TY - JOUR

DO - 10.1038/s41550-022-01875-w

UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01875-w

TI - An Ice Age JWST inventory of dense molecular cloud ices

T2 - Nature Astronomy

AU - McClure, Melissa

AU - Rocha, Will R. M.

AU - Pontoppidan, K. M.

AU - Crouzet, Nicolas

AU - Chu, Laurie E. U.

AU - Dartois, E.

AU - Lamberts, T.

AU - Noble, J. A.

AU - Pendleton, Y. J.

AU - Perotti, Giulia

AU - Qasim, Danna

AU - Rachid, M. G.

AU - Smith, Z L

AU - Sun, Fengwu

AU - Beck, Tracy L.

AU - Boogert, A. C. A.

AU - Brown, W. A.

AU - Caselli, Paola

AU - Charnley, S. B.

AU - Cuppen, H. M.

AU - Dickinson, H.

AU - Drozdovskaya, Maria

AU - Egami, E.

AU - Erkal, Jessica

AU - Fraser, H. J.

AU - Garrod, R. T.

AU - Harsono, Daniel

AU - Ioppolo, Sergio

AU - Jiménez-Serra, Izaskun

AU - Jin, Mihwa

AU - Jorgensen, J. K.

AU - Kristensen, Lars E.

AU - Lis, D. C.

AU - McCoustra, M. R. S.

AU - McGuire, Brett A.

AU - Melnick, G. J.

AU - Öberg, Karin

AU - Palumbo, M. E.

AU - Shimonishi, T

AU - Sturm, Ardjan

AU - van Dishoeck, E. F.

AU - Linnartz, H.

PY - 2023

DA - 2023/01/23

PB - Springer Nature

SP - 431-443

IS - 4

VL - 7

SN - 2397-3366

ER -

BibTex |

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BibTex (up to 50 authors) Copy

@article{2023_McClure,

author = {Melissa McClure and Will R. M. Rocha and K. M. Pontoppidan and Nicolas Crouzet and Laurie E. U. Chu and E. Dartois and T. Lamberts and J. A. Noble and Y. J. Pendleton and Giulia Perotti and Danna Qasim and M. G. Rachid and Z L Smith and Fengwu Sun and Tracy L. Beck and A. C. A. Boogert and W. A. Brown and Paola Caselli and S. B. Charnley and H. M. Cuppen and H. Dickinson and Maria Drozdovskaya and E. Egami and Jessica Erkal and H. J. Fraser and R. T. Garrod and Daniel Harsono and Sergio Ioppolo and Izaskun Jiménez-Serra and Mihwa Jin and J. K. Jorgensen and Lars E. Kristensen and D. C. Lis and M. R. S. McCoustra and Brett A. McGuire and G. J. Melnick and Karin Öberg and M. E. Palumbo and T Shimonishi and Ardjan Sturm and E. F. van Dishoeck and H. Linnartz},

title = {An Ice Age JWST inventory of dense molecular cloud ices},

journal = {Nature Astronomy},

year = {2023},

volume = {7},

publisher = {Springer Nature},

month = {jan},

url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01875-w},

number = {4},

pages = {431--443},

doi = {10.1038/s41550-022-01875-w}

}

MLA

Cite this

MLA Copy

McClure, Melissa, et al. “An Ice Age JWST inventory of dense molecular cloud ices.” Nature Astronomy, vol. 7, no. 4, Jan. 2023, pp. 431-443. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01875-w.

Publisher

Springer Nature

Journal

Nature Astronomy

scimago Q1

wos Q1

SJR

4.006

CiteScore

22.9

Impact factor

14.3

ISSN

23973366 (Electronic)

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