http://arxiv.org/abs/2104.10474
The hydrogen cyanide (HCN) molecule in the planetary atmosphere is key to the formation of building blocks of life. We present the spectroscopic detection of the rotational molecular line of nitrile species hydrogen cyanide (HCN) in the atmosphere of Saturn using the archival data of the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) in band 7 observation. The strong rotational emission line of HCN is detected at frequency $\nu$ = 354.505 GHz (>4$\sigma$ statistical significance). We also detect the rotational emission line of carbon monoxide (CO) at frequency $\nu$ = 345.795 GHz. The statistical column density of hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide emission line is N(HCN)$\sim$2.42$\times$10$^{16}$ cm$^{-2}$ and N(CO)$\sim$5.82$\times$10$^{17}$ cm$^{-2}$. The abundance of HCN and CO in the atmosphere of Saturn relative to the H$_{2}$ is estimated to be f(HCN)$\sim$1.02$\times$10$^{-9}$ and f(CO)$\sim$2.42$\times$10$^{-8}$. We discussed possible chemical pathways to the formation of the detected nitrile gas HCN in the atmosphere of Saturn.
A. Manna and S. Pal
Thu, 22 Apr 2021
10/44
Comments: 6 pages, 4 figures, comments are welcome