Building a Buckyball Particle in Space

Spitzer_ssc2012-03a_1024

spitzer_ssc2012-03a February 22nd, 2012

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (IPAC)

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected the solid form of buckyballs in space for the first time. To form a solid particle, the buckyballs must stack together, as illustrated in this artist's concept showing the very beginnings of the process. The buckyball particles were spotted around a small, hot star -- a member of a pair of stars, called XX Ophiuchi, located 6,500 light-years from Earth.

The discovery implies that the little carbon spheres are prevalent in certain stellar regions of the cosmos. Unlike a gas, a solid is more dense, requiring large quantities of molecules to form.

The infrared observatory first detected buckyballs as a gas in 2010, the first time the material was ever definitively observed in space. Buckyballs are made up of 60 carbon atoms arranged as hollow spheres that resemble soccer balls. They also look like the geodesic domes of the late architect Buckminster Fuller, hence their name.

Provider: Spitzer Space Telescope

Image Source: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/4923-ssc2012-03a-Building-a-Buckyball-Particle-in-Space

Curator: Spitzer Space Telescope, Pasadena, CA, USA

Image Use Policy: Public Domain

View Options

Image Details

Image Type
Artwork
Spitzer_ssc2012-03a_1280
×
ID
ssc2012-03a
Subject Category
Subject Name
Credits
NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (IPAC)
Type
Artwork
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Instrument
Color Assignment
Band
Bandpass
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
Equinox
Reference Value
Reference Dimension
Reference Pixel
Scale
Rotation
Coordinate System Projection:
Quality
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
Spitzer Space Telescope
URL
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
1200 E. California Blvd.
City
Pasadena
State/Province
CA
Postal Code
91125
Country
USA
Rights
Public Domain
Publisher
Spitzer Science Center
Publisher ID
spitzer
Resource ID
ssc2012-03a.tif
Metadata Date
2017-03-13
Metadata Version
1.1
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×

There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

Providers | Sign In