Our interest is targeted at understanding the chemical and physical processing of astrophysical ices in star and planet formation regions; and the properties of ices in the outer nebular regions of our own solar system and other planet building regions within the interstellar medium (ISM). Specific topics include:
Recent astronomical observations and cometary and meteorite research have given new support to the idea of 'Panspermia' the theory that life on Earth was seeded by the transport of the essential prebiotic molecular compounds from interstellar space. To determine if we can make this grand generalization, we need to study how the simple chemical seeds in space (i.e. the 120 or more molecules detected in our Galaxy in the gas phase or as solids - molecules such as water, ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and sulphur, phosphorus, magnesium, iron compounds) can be transformed into the building blocks of biochemistry. We also seek to understand how these were able to be incorporated into solid bodies, of whatever dimension, in the solar nebula, noting that micrometeorites are tiny chips off much larger bodies, such as asteroids and Kuiper belt objects. The Group's research programme studies how we may bridge the gap between the formation of simple molecules such as methane, ammonia or water in the interstellar and the presence on the early Earth of complex species such as the DNA bases or aminoacids. The mechanisms by which such prebiotic compounds may have formed the self replicating biomolecules will also be probed.
Recent highlights of our astrochemistry research include:
Establishing a unique research program that uses synchrotron radiation as a mimic of stellar radiation to study physical and chemical processes
Demonstrating for the first time that the simplest amino acid, glycine, can be easily formed in an irradiated methyamine/CO2 ice mixture with methylamine formed from methane and ammonia, two 'building blocks' common in interstellar ices.
Developing a unique system that uses ultrasonic fields to trap small (micron sized particles) such that they can be processed, and physical and chemical modifications probed, on surfaces similar to those of astrochemical dust grains.
