A PhD student has produced cosmic dust in a laboratory by simulating conditions near stars. The work provides new insights into how organic molecules essential for life may have formed in space.
Linda Losurdo, a materials and plasma physics candidate at the University of Sydney, combined nitrogen, carbon dioxide and acetylene inside glass tubes. She removed the air with a vacuum pump and applied an electrical potential of around 10,000 volts for about one hour, creating a glow discharge plasma.
The resulting carbon-rich particles contained complex CHON molecules and emitted infrared signals matching those observed in interstellar material. Losurdo conducted the work with supervisor Professor David McKenzie.
The findings appeared in The Astrophysical Journal. The team plans to build a library of laboratory signatures to help astronomers interpret observations of star-forming regions and meteorites.
Losurdo received an award for best presentation on the research at the Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society late last year. The study was supported by the Australian Research Council and Microscopy Australia.