On the nature of interstellar grains

Details On the nature of interstellar grains On the nature of interstellar grains

Nov 1979

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1979ap%26ss..66...77h&link_type=abstract

Astrophysics and Space Science, vol. 66, no. 1, Nov. 1979, p. 77-90.

Biology

42

Algae, Bacteria, Ice, Interstellar Extinction, Interstellar Matter, Particle Size Distribution, Absorption Spectra, Microbiology, Organic Compounds, Phytoplankton, Stellar Spectra, Ultraviolet Spectra

Scientific paper

Data on interstellar extinction are interpreted to imply an identification of interstellar grains with naturally freeze-dried bacteria and algae. The total mass of such bacterial and algal cells in the galaxy is enormous, approximately 10 to the 40th g. The identification is based on Mie scattering calculations for an experimentally determined size distribution of bacteria. Agreement between model calculations and astronomical data is remarkably precise over inverse wavelength intervals 1-1.94 per micron and 2.5-3.0 per micron. Over the more restricted waveband 4000-5000 A an excess interstellar absorption is found which is in uncannily close agreement with the absorption properties of phytoplankton pigments. The strongest of the diffuse interstellar bands are provisionally assigned to carotenoid-chlorophyll pigment complexes such as exist in algae and pigmented bacteria.

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