Detection of Extragalactic Formamide, HC(O)NH2

S. Muller, A. Beelen, J. H. Black, S. J. Curran, C. Horellou, S. Aalto, F. Combes, M. Guélin, and C. Henkel
reported on
A precise and accurate determination of the cosmic microwave background temperature at //z// = 0.89
Astron. Astrophys. 551, (2013) Art. No. A109.
The famous, but unnamed foreground galaxy in direction of the quasar PKS 1830–211 was studied with the Australia Telecope Compact Array and the Plateau de Bure Interferometer. ATCA observations at 7 mm revealed 2 significant lines of formamide, 404 – 303 near 44.8 GHz (restfrequency near 84.5 GHz) and 413 – 312 near 46.6 GHz (restfrequency near 87.8 GHz). Even though rather few transitions have been observed, the detection is probably secure because of the limited line density.


Contributor(s): H. S. P. Müller; 04, 2013