In the Astronomical Journal for March Volume 169 Number 3:
Li, J. Shi, J. Ma, Y. et al. Hydrogen Cyanide in Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) from 3.4 mm Wave Spectra article 126 ada7e7
Wu, L. Zhang, Q. Lainey, V. et al. A Centroiding Algorithm for Point-source Trails art 183 adb3a3
I’ve said it before: cyanide (and other nitriles) are key compounds in astrobiology. To the untrained, they’re deadly… to established, higher lifeforms. But in prebiotic chemistry, it is just that reactivity that makes cyano compounds important and sought-after. They have the kick to kickstart important reactions. Also, life (as we know it, on Earth) needs the CHON elements: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, but nitrogen’s the limiting one out of the four. -CN provides that vital N.
It’s easy to spot an asteroid, right? Just take a picture of it, right? Right? Unlike stars, asteroids move in some direction, only loosely known. Faint objects need long exposures, and in such exposures asteroids may trail. Trails are dimmer than points, since the same light gets spread out to more pixels. We have tried both de-streaking, and trail detection. The issue is only growing, as the easy (bright) asteroids have been found. Their streaks are bright and obvious.