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Science 2 April 1993:
Vol. 260. no. 5104, pp. 64 - 66
DOI: 10.1126/science.11538059
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Articles

Science, Vol 260, Issue 5104, 64-66
Copyright © 1993 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

Diamonds in dense molecular clouds: a challenge to the standard interstellar medium paradigm

LJ Allamandola, SA Sandford, AG Tielens, and TM Herbst

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA 94035.

Observations of a newly discovered infrared C-H stretching band indicate that interstellar diamond-like material appears to be characteristic of dense clouds. In sharp contrast, the spectral signature of dust in the diffuse interstellar medium is dominated by -CH2- and -CH3 groups. This dichotomy in the aliphatic organic component between the dense and diffuse media challenges standard assumptions about the processes occurring in, and interactions between, these two media. The ubiquity of this interstellar diamond-like material rules out models for meteoritic diamond formation in unusual circumstellar environments and implies that the formation of the diamond-like material is associated with common interstellar processes or stellar types.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
A Diamond Trilogy: Superplumes, Supercontinents, and Supernovae.
S. E. Haggerty (1999)
Science 285, 851-860
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