In 1969, scientists found formaldehyde floating through space. Since then, radio telescopes have spotted a number of other complex molecules--even some that could form the building blocks of life. But they've been a bit myopic in their search. Today, researchers presented some preliminary results from a project aimed at taking a much larger survey of the sky. And they're asking the public for help.That project is the Prebiotic Interstellar Molecule Survey (PRIMOS). Launched in 2004, it plans to inventory all of the chemicals found in space. In the past, scientists would decide on the molecule they were looking for, and then set their telescope's radio frequency to that one molecule. The approach paid off, netting a number of aldehydes and simple sugars, but Anthony Remijan of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia, thought there was a better way. Why not, he and colleagues reasoned, look at all frequencies available to us instead and see what comes up?
Utilizing the Green Bank Telescope, PRIMOS gathers information
from a range of radio frequencies between 300 MHz and 50 GHz and then
digs through the data, looking for spectral lines, what Remijan calls
the "telltale fingerprints" of complex molecules. So far, the project
has identified 240 spectral lines associated with unidentified
molecules. It's also found a number of known molecules including
acetone, which is used in nail-polish remover, acetic acid, or vinegar,
and formic acid, which gives ants and bees their sting.
PRIMOS has gathered so much data, in fact, that it now needs volunteers to sift through it all. Interested? You can use the Java application on its Web site to bring up all of the reduced and averaged radio-frequency data, or if you really want to get crazy, you can bring it up in raw format. Search for features that could be from new molecules, and voilà, you could discover your own chemical. There's a complete database of spectral frequencies for all of the known molecules to help you out.
--Jackie Grom
PRIMOS has gathered so much data, in fact, that it now needs volunteers to sift through it all. Interested? You can use the Java application on its Web site to bring up all of the reduced and averaged radio-frequency data, or if you really want to get crazy, you can bring it up in raw format. Search for features that could be from new molecules, and voilà, you could discover your own chemical. There's a complete database of spectral frequencies for all of the known molecules to help you out.
--Jackie Grom
