Yi-Jehng Kuan et al. 2003 ApJ 593 848 doi:10.1086/375637
Yi-Jehng Kuan1,2, Steven B. Charnley3, Hui-Chun Huang1, Wei-Ling Tseng1 and Zbigniew Kisiel4
Show affiliationsWe have searched for interstellar conformer I glycine (NH2CH2COOH), the simplest amino acid, in the hot molecular cores Sgr B2(N-LMH), Orion KL, and W51 e1/e2. An improved search strategy for intrinsically weak molecular lines, involving multisource observations, has been developed and implemented. In total, 82 spectral frequency bands, in the millimeter-wave region, were observed over a 4 yr period; 27 glycine lines were detected in 19 different spectral bands in one or more sources. The rotational temperatures derived from "rotation diagrams" are 75
K for Sgr B2(N-LMH), 141
K for Orion KL, and 121
K for W51 e1/e2. The total column densities inferred are 4.16
× 1014 cm-2 for Sgr B2, 4.37
× 1014 cm-2 for Orion, and 2.09
× 1014 cm-2 for W51. Production of interstellar glycine by both gas-phase ion-molecule reactions and by ultraviolet photolysis of molecular ices is briefly discussed. The discovery of interstellar glycine strengthens the thesis that interstellar organic molecules could have played a pivotal role in the prebiotic chemistry of the early Earth.
astrobiology; ISM: abundances; ISM: individual (Orion Kleinmann-Low, Sagittarius B2(N-LMH), W51 e1/e2); ISM: molecules; line: identification; radio lines: ISM
Issue 2 (2003 August 20)
Received 2002 November 15, accepted for publication 2003 April 1
Yi-Jehng Kuan et al. 2003 ApJ 593 848
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