Cospatial ice mapping of H2O with CO2 and CO across a molecular cloud with JWST/NIRCam

IF 12.9 1区物理与天体物理 Q1 ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS

Nature Astronomy Pub Date : 2025-03-24 DOI:10.1038/s41550-025-02511-z

Z. L. Smith, H. J. Dickinson, H. J. Fraser, M. K. McClure, J. A. Noble, A. C. A. Boogert, F. Sun, E. Egami, E. Dartois, J. Erkal, T. Shimonishi, T. L. Beck, J. B. Bergner, P. Caselli, S. B. Charnley, L. Chu, M. N. Drozdovskaya, R. Garrod, D. Harsono, S. Ioppolo, I. Jimenez-Serra, J. K. Jørgensen, G. J. Melnick, K. I. Öberg, M. E. Palumbo, Y. J. Pendleton, G. Perotti, K. M. Pontoppidan, D. Qasim, W. R. M. Rocha, J. A. Sturm, A. Taillard, R. G. Urso, E. F. van Dishoeck

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Abstract

In the coldest regions of molecular clouds, carbon and oxygen are incorporated into icy dust grains. Despite its outsized role in star and planet formation, sequential formation of ice is poorly constrained. Infrared spectroscopy probes ice chemistry, but previous telescopes observed insufficient lines of sight to map a single cloud. Here we present cospatial maps of H₂O, CO₂ and CO ice over the central region of the Chamaeleon I molecular cloud, using 44 lines of sight observed with the James Webb Space Telescope. Correlations at column densities ten times larger than previous work suggest additional CO₂ ice formation in CO ice for the densest lines of sight. This large statistical sampling within a single cloud represents a step change in ice mapping, eliminating averaging over clouds with different intrinsic chemical environments. Mapping opens the door to probing gas–grain exchanges, snow lines and chemical evolution in the densest regions and drawing conclusions on the impact of ice chemistry on wider astrophysics.

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来源期刊

Nature Astronomy Physics and Astronomy-Astronomy and Astrophysics

CiteScore

19.50

自引率

2.80%

发文量

252

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