{"title":"ALMA detection of hydrogen cyanide in the atmosphere of Saturn","authors":"ARIJIT MANNA, SABYASACHI PAL","doi":"10.1007/s12036-024-10024-w","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In the planetary atmosphere, hydrogen cyanide (HCN) is an important nitrogen (N)-bearing molecule that plays a key role in the formation of several biomolecules via chain reactions. The presence of HCN characterizes the stratospheric composition of the solar gas planets and exoplanets. For several years, many observations have failed to identify the rotational and vibrational emission lines of HCN from the atmosphere of Saturn using ground- and space-based radio telescopes. We present the successful detection of the rotational emission line of HCN from the atmosphere of Saturn using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) band 7. We detected the <span>\\(\\textrm{J} = 4\\)</span>–3 transition line of the HCN from the eastern and western limbs of Saturn with <span>\\({\\ge }5\\sigma \\)</span> statistical significance. The derived abundances of HCN in the western and eastern limbs are 6.19 and 2.90 ppb, respectively. We claim that HCN is formed in the atmosphere of Saturn via the photolysis of methane (<span>\\(\\hbox {CH}_{4}\\)</span>) and ammonia (<span>\\(\\hbox {NH}_{3}\\)</span>).</p></div>","PeriodicalId":610,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy","FirstCategoryId":"101","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12036-024-10024-w","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In the planetary atmosphere, hydrogen cyanide (HCN) is an important nitrogen (N)-bearing molecule that plays a key role in the formation of several biomolecules via chain reactions. The presence of HCN characterizes the stratospheric composition of the solar gas planets and exoplanets. For several years, many observations have failed to identify the rotational and vibrational emission lines of HCN from the atmosphere of Saturn using ground- and space-based radio telescopes. We present the successful detection of the rotational emission line of HCN from the atmosphere of Saturn using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) band 7. We detected the \(\textrm{J} = 4\)–3 transition line of the HCN from the eastern and western limbs of Saturn with \({\ge }5\sigma \) statistical significance. The derived abundances of HCN in the western and eastern limbs are 6.19 and 2.90 ppb, respectively. We claim that HCN is formed in the atmosphere of Saturn via the photolysis of methane (\(\hbox {CH}_{4}\)) and ammonia (\(\hbox {NH}_{3}\)).
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The journal publishes original research papers on all aspects of astrophysics and astronomy, including instrumentation, laboratory astrophysics, and cosmology. Critical reviews of topical fields are also published.
Articles submitted as letters will be considered.