2024-07-22 22:00:37
23.07.2024
The question of extraterrestrial life revolves around the potential presence of water in space. New data from the University of Innsbruck helps locate traces of water in astronomical observational data.
A research group led by Christina M. Tonauer and Thomas Lörting has released near-infrared spectra of various forms of ice. These can particularly help in classifying the data from the James Webb Space Telescope.
The research group headed by Thomas Lörting at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the University of Innsbruck studies the diverse and unique properties of ice and water. The scientists have discovered new forms of ice in the lab and have previously shown that water consists of two different liquids.
The team is also capable of producing ice forms in the lab that do not occur naturally on Earth but are found in the vastness of space. “Creating these ice forms requires very low temperatures and/or very high pressure,” explains chemist Christina M. Tonauer from Thomas Lörting’s team. The findings about the ice forms have applications in various fields. They are important for space research because they help to explore the conditions under which ice forms there and where it can be found.
Twenty different forms of ice are known so far. While only so-called hexagonal ice is observed on the Earth’s surface, scientists suspect a multitude of different ice structures in the interiors of the ice giants Uranus and Neptune, or on the ice moons of Jupiter and Saturn, which are covered by kilometers-thick layers of ice.
For the first time, the Innsbruck chemists are now providing spectra of these ice forms in the near-infrared range, a frequency range also used by the new James Webb Space Telescope. The data measured in space can be compared with the spectra determined in the lab in Innsbruck, allowing for inferences about the type and structure of ice in space.
New Measurement Method Developed
Christina M. Tonauer successfully created the near-infrared spectra in collaboration with the research group led by Christian Huck at the Institute of Analytical Chemistry and Radiochemistry of the University of Innsbruck, a specialist in near-infrared spectroscopy. “The main challenge was to keep the ice at minus 196 degrees Celsius for the duration of the measurement so that it did not reshape,” says Christina M. Tonauer. “We had to develop a method to measure the samples using liquid nitrogen in a spectrometer designed for room temperatures.”
The scientists were successful and found numerous characteristic features in the spectra in the wavelength range from 1 to 2.5 micrometers, which can be used to determine the density and porosity of the ice. “One of the spectrographs on the James Webb Space Telescope also measures in this wavelength range,” explains Thomas Lörting. “Our lab data can serve as reference values for the interpretation of measurements in space. This way, we might soon learn more about ice and water in space.” The research was carried out as part of the Research Platform for Materials and Nanosciences at the University of Innsbruck, which was upgraded to the research focus on Functional Materials Science (FunMAT) at the beginning of the year.
» Original publication
Source: University of Innsbruck