{"id":477075,"date":"2026-05-10T00:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T00:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/477075\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T00:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T00:33:08","slug":"astronomers-from-western-university-discover-the-birthplace-of-cosmic-buckyballs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/477075\/","title":{"rendered":"Astronomers from Western University Discover the Birthplace of Cosmic “Buckyballs”"},"content":{"rendered":"

They are known as “buckyballs,” ball-shaped molecules that resemble a hollow sphere, and are found in space. These strange customers were first observed by Professor Jan Cami and a team from Western University in 2010 using the Spitzer Space Telescope<\/a> (SST). And now, more than 15 years later, Cami and his colleagues have detected buckyballs again using the James Webb Space Telescope<\/a> (JWST). The rich data they retrieved from Webb’s observations have pointed to the origin of these strange cosmic molecules.<\/p>\n

The observations were part of Cycle 3 of the JWST General Observer (GO-4076<\/a>) program, titled “Fullerenes in Tc 1: a quantitative study of the interaction of large molecules with their radiative environment<\/a>.” The research was made possible with the support of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and a Western University Accelerator Award.<\/p>\n

Buckeyballs are fascinating molecules, consisting of 60 perfectly arranged carbon atoms, hence the chemical formula C60. The molecule was first synthesized in 1985 by Sir Harry Kroto and his colleagues at the University of Sussex, a feat that earned him the 1996 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Kroto named the molecule “buckminsterfullerene” in honor of Buckminster Fuller, the famous architect who developed geodesic domes. In addition to resembling Fuller’s domes, the molecules also share the same structural principles.<\/p>\n

\"Illustrations<\/a> *Illustrations depicting how \u2018buckyballs\u2019 are arranged in patterns of hexagons and pentagons, similar to the pattern on a soccer ball or a geodesic dome. Credit: Western Communications*<\/p>\n

Kroto predicted that buckyballs would be widespread and abundant in the Universe, but evidence for their cosmic existence would not be found until 2010. Cami and his colleagues discovered buckyballs while observing Tc 1 (IC 1266), a planetary nebula surrounding a dying star located 12,400 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation Ara. Using data from the JWST\u2019s Mid-Infrared Instrument<\/a> (MIRI), Cami and his team returned to Tc 1 and captured the first detailed view of the planetary nebula.<\/p>\n

Tc 1 is a stellar remnant (a white dwarf) that was once a star similar to our Sun. When it exhausted its nuclear fuel, it experienced gravitational collapse in its core and shed its outer layers. These are now visible as clouds of expelled gas that are illuminated by the stellar remnant, causing them to glow. The process took tens of thousands of years to unfold, gradually creating the intricate structures observed by the team. Dries Van De Putte, a postdoctoral researcher who helped process the data, explained in a Western News release<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Discovering buckyballs in space is important because it helps scientists, like us, track carbon chemistry, explain mysterious signals and understand how organic materials change in extreme environments. Their discovery has also challenged traditional views about space chemistry and offered clues about how life may have begun. I am focused on discovering whether these buckyballs formed the same way as they did on Earth or by a completely different process.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The new image provided by Webb captures the nebula’s rays, filaments, and gas shells, along with a complex structure at its heart. MIRI observed the nebula with nine filters spanning wavelengths from 5.6 to 25.5 microns. The blue tones represent hotter gas at shorter mid-infrared wavelengths, while the red tones trace cooler material at longer wavelengths. The image was processed by Katelyn Beecroft, a secondary school science teacher and avid amateur astronomer. Said Beecroft:<\/p>\n

\n

Typically, when I work on an image, I have an idea of what the object looks like and what to expect when processing the data. In the case of Tc 1, there are almost no images for the nebula, and those that are available are nowhere near the resolution that JWST captured. There is something wonderful about seeing and bringing out all of the fine detail in a nebula, especially when it is one that you are seeing for the very first time.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In addition, using the integral field unit (IFU) spectroscopy technique, the observations yielded rich spectroscopic data revealing the carbon-rich chemistry of Tc 1. This reflects the composition of the progenitor star, which (along with the buckyballs) provides insight into stellar evolution. \u201cTc 1 was already extraordinary, as it was the object that told us buckyballs exist in space, but this new image shows us we had only scratched the surface,” said Cami. “The structures we\u2019re seeing now are breathtaking, and they raise as many questions as they answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The early release dataset also provides vital data on the three-dimensional distribution of the buckyballs themselves. According to Morgan Giese, a PhD candidate who led the analysis of the C60 emission in the new data, the buckyballs are not scattered randomly but concentrated in a thin spherical shell surrounding the central star. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe painstakingly measured the properties of the buckyballs throughout our dataset and then put together a map of where they all are,” she said. “Funnily enough, these microscopic hollow spheres are actually distributed in the shape of a hollow sphere as well. Buckyballs arranged like one giant buckyball. We\u2019re still working on why they\u2019re located here, but it\u2019s really fun to see all these small things pop up in our data.”<\/p>\n

\u201cDiscovering buckyballs in space is important because it helps scientists, like us, track carbon chemistry, explain mysterious signals and understand how organic materials change in extreme environments,” added postdoctoral researcher Dries Van De Putte. “Their discovery has also challenged traditional views about space chemistry and offered clues about how life may have begun,\u201d \u201cI am focused on discovering whether these buckyballs formed the same way as they did on Earth or by a completely different process.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Western<\/a> *Western professor Jan Cami shows a model of a \u2018buckyball.\u2019 Credit: Christopher Kindratsky\/Western Communications*<\/p>\n

According to Cami, their results are just the beginning, and several more scientific papers dealing with the detailed chemical composition of the nebula are currently in preparation. Said Els Peeters, a physics and astronomy professor at Western and member of the research team:<\/p>\n

\n

When we proposed these observations, we knew Tc 1 was special. But what JWST has shown us goes far beyond what we anticipated. We are already gaining new insight into the nature of the buckyballs themselves, and into why they shine so exceptionally bright in this object \u2013 questions we have been puzzling over for fifteen years. This is one of those datasets that will keep us busy for years to come.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Further Reading: Western University<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They are known as “buckyballs,” ball-shaped molecules that resemble a hollow sphere, and are found in space. These…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[18,19,17,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-477075","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-science"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116547472825078904","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}