Thunder Bay

First Nations leaders say next government must consider on-reserve housing for '7 generations down the line'

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Platforms of Canada's 4 major parties in Monday's vote address First Nations housing, but details lacking

Logan Turner · CBC News · Posted: Sep 19, 2021 

Construction workers are busy getting the foundations ready for a number of new housing units to be installed in Wauzhushk Onigum Nation, a First Nation with about 400 people living on reserve next to Kenora, Ont. There are longtime concerns over housing availability and affordability on Canadian First Nations that some say the federal parties haven't addressed. (Logan Turner/CBC)

The sounds of hammers, saws and drills fill the air in Wauzhushk Onigum Nation as construction workers are busy getting the foundations ready for a handful of new housing units on the First Nation next door to Kenora, Ont.

The new homes, expected to be completed by this fall, will help get 10 to 12 families off the First Nation's housing wait list, according to Chief Chris Skead.

It's a significant step forward, thanks largely to the federal government's rapid housing initiative, but the chief says it won't come close to addressing the overcrowding in other homes on the reserve.

"Realistically, we're about 100 houses short here within the community," Skead said. "I know it's difficult at times, because some people can be on a waiting list for, gosh, going on a decade, if not longer."

About 400 people live on the reserve, and that number is growing.

"If you see the Anishinaabe people, we're like the fastest-growing demographic within Canada," said Skead.

Chief Chris Skead of Wauzhushk Onigum Nation in Ontario has put a priority on housing in his First Nation, and he's looking for the next federal government to do the same. (Wauzhushk Onigum Nation/Facebook)

With a finite amount of land, the housing committee has had to start forecasting future housing needs for the community and thinking about needed infrastructure development.

The conversation about housing shortages and infrastructure development on reserve is being replicated in First Nations across Canada.

The latest estimates from Indigenous Services Canada suggest there's an immediate need for 21,000 new homes on First Nations, with another 50,000 houses requiring major repairs.

The situation is much more dire, according to estimates from the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), which predicts there will be a backlog of 130,000 housing units between 2010 and 2031, according to a national First Nations housing strategy posted on the AFN's website. The AFN has also included housing and homelessness as a priority in the lead-up to the federal election Monday.

States of emergency declared over housing

In many First Nations already, the housing situation is critical.

In January 2019, Cat Lake First Nation, located 415 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, Ont., declared a state of emergency over dangerously poor housing conditions, which included mould problems so bad that community members say it led to the death of one resident from respiratory problems.

This past winter, as temperatures approached –50 C, several people and families on Eabametoong First Nation, about 300 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, had to live in temporary tent structures to ease overcrowding.

• 'She lived on a hill full of mould': Family raises concerns after Cat Lake First Nation woman's death

• COVID-19 tents, shacks turned into homes amid housing crisis in Eabametoong First Nation

On Wednesday, Marten Falls Chief Bruce Achneepineskum warned of an impending housing and homelessness crisis as he declared a state of emergency because of a water treatment plant failure. 

Achneepineskum called on the federal government to help provide 15 to 20 houses immediately to the Treaty 9 First Nation, as well as fire suppression equipment because the community doesn't have any.

• Marten Falls First Nation declares state of emergency after shutdown of water treatment plant

"The worry of a house catching fire keeps me up at night," the chief said in a media release.

A report released this year by Ontario's chief coroner identified the deaths of 56 people in 29 fires that occurred on 20 First Nations between 2008 and 2017, and found First Nations children under age 10 died because of fires at a rate 86 times that seen in non-First Nations children.

Federal parties' First Nations housing promises 

But during the federal election campaign, at a time when housing availability and affordability have dominated headlines for weeks, housing on First Nations reserves has been largely overlooked.

The platforms for all four major parties make mention of housing for Indigenous people, but not necessarily specific to on-reserve housing:

• The Conservatives promise to enact a "for Indigenous, by Indigenous" housing strategy and "empowering Indigenous peoples with the autonomy to meet their own housing needs."
• The Greens have promised to develop an urban Indigenous housing strategy and ensure housing in Indigenous communities are built following principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
• The New Democrats say they will implement a co-developed and fully funded Indigenous national housing strategy within the first 100 days in office that will "put an end to chronic overcrowding and long wait lists."
• The Liberals have said they will develop an Indigenous urban, rural and northern housing strategy, invest $2 billion in Indigenous housing for First Nations, Métis and Inuit, with more than half of the funding available by the next summer construction period, and co-develop and fund a national Indigenous housing centre.

Call for First Nations-led approach to housing 

Each of the party platforms calls for inclusion of Indigenous communities in the development of the strategies, but the housing co-ordinator for Wauzhushk Onigum, also named Chris Skead, says more is needed.

First Nations know their own housing situation best, which is why he's calling for a First Nations-led approach to addressing the growing gaps on reserve.

"You need to treat each First Nation as its own, and stop treating all of them the same," Skead said.

That's not the case currently, according to Skead. He said the process for the rapid housing initiative pitted First Nation against First Nation in a competition to get as much of the $500 million promised by the former Liberal government, and allocations were based on a scoring system.

Chris Louis Skead, housing co-ordinator for Wauzhushk Onigum Nation, wants to see the next federal government focus on creating a First Nations-led on-reserve housing strategy. (Logan Turner/CBC)

Wauzhushk Onigum did quite well, in part thanks to the recent lifting of several long-term boil water advisories when their water and treatment systems were connected to that of the neighbouring city of Kenora.

That wasn't the situation for other First Nations, Skead said, adding there are a number of factors that go into the scoring system, including the First Nation's ability to handle debt.

"Maybe they don't have the infrastructure, maybe they don't have the land, or maybe they don't have the operations and maintenance to take care of certain things in order to achieve those goals," he said. "So if you score good, you're going to get it, but you're not filling a need."

Wauzhushk Onigum's chief said he expects the new government to start visiting First Nations immediately to address the housing and other challenges they face.

"With the Anishinaabe people, we're always talking about seven generations ahead. So the work we're doing now is going to have that ripple effect seven generations down the line."

GAIA AWAKES

Volcano erupts on Spanish Atlantic island; lava destroys some homes

© Provided by The Canadian Press

LOS LLANOS DE ARIDANE, Spain (AP) — A volcano on Spain’s Atlantic Ocean island of La Palma erupted Sunday after a weeklong buildup of seismic activity, prompting authorities to evacuate thousands as lava flows destroyed isolated houses and threatened to reach the coast. New eruptions continued into the night.

The Canary Islands Volcanology Institute reported the initial eruption shortly after 3 p.m. near the southern end of the island, which saw its last eruption in 1971. Huge red plumes topped with black-and-white smoke shot out along the Cumbre Vieja volcanic ridge, which scientists had been closely watching following the accumulation of molten lava below the surface and days of small earthquakes.

Víctor Torres, president of the Canary Islands, said that by 11 p.m. some 5,000 people had been evacuated from their homes. Most, he said, had found family or friends to take them in. The rest were in shelters.

La Palma, with a population of 85,000, is one of eight volcanic islands in Spain’s Canary Islands archipelago off Africa’s western coast. At their nearest point, the islands are 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Morocco.

A 4.2-magnitude quake was recorded before the eruption, which took place in an area known as Cabeza de Vaca on the western slope as the ridge descends to the coast. As the eruptions continued, at least two open mouths belched bright red magma into the air that then flowed in tight streams down the mountain slope.

Shortly after the initial explosion rocked the area, one black lava flow with a burning tip immediately slid toward houses in the village of El Paso. Mayor Sergio Rodríguez said 300 people in immediate danger were evacuated, roads were closed and authorities urged the curious not to approach the area.

The lava eventually destroyed at least eight homes, according to local officials, causing at least one chalet with a tower to crumble. Authorities warned that the lava flows could also threaten the municipalities of El Paraíso, Alcalá and surrounding areas.

Carlota Martín was at an agricultural plot her family has in Todoque, just downhill from the eruption site, when she heard a huge explosion.

“When we saw the column of smoke, we thought it could not be real, but it kept growing and we knew we had to get out of there,” she told The Associated Press. “You leave, but you are also looking back because you want to see what will happen. Nobody knows how the lava flows will descend, but our plot and lots of houses in the area could be in the way.”

Mariano Hernández, president of La Palma island, said there were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries but the lava flows made him concerned “about the populated areas on the coast.”

“People should not come near the eruption site where the lava is flowing,” Hernández said. “We are having serious problems with the evacuation because the roads are jammed with people who are trying to get close enough to see it.”

Itahiza Dominguez, head of seismology of Spain’s National Geology Institute, told Canary Islands Television that although it was too early to tell how long this eruption would last, prior “eruptions on the Canary Islands lasted weeks or even months.”

The last eruption on La Palma 50 years ago lasted just over three weeks. The last eruption on all the Canary Islands occurred underwater off the coast of El Hierro island in 2011. It lasted five months.

Volcanologist Vicente Soler of Spain’s Higher Council said "the material appears to be very fluid, the lava flows will reach the sea sooner or later.” The scientific committee of the Volcano Risk Prevention Plan said part of the island’s southwest coast was at risk for landslides and rock falls.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez cancelled his trip to New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly so he could travel from Spain’s mainland to the Canary Islands.

“The people of La Palma should rest assured that we have all the resources and emergency personal necessary,” Sánchez said after meeting with local officials on the island.

___

Joseph Wilson reported from Barcelona. Renata Brito contributed to this report from Barcelona.

Jonathan Rodríguez And Joseph Wilson, The Associated Press

Volcano eruption on Spanish island of La Palma forces evacuations

Jan-Uwe Ronneburger

 Sep 19, 2021

© Arturo Jimenez/dp

Madrid (dpa) - A volcano erupted on the Spanish island of La Palma on Sunday, with several violent explosions in the El Paso municipality in the south of the island forcing at least 5,000 people to flee the area, according to local media.

The volcano spewed rock fragments and red-hot lava into the air, while sending up large amounts of brown and white smoke following an initial eruption at 3:12 pm (1412 GMT), according to El Pais newspaper.

The Guardi Civil have evacuated at least 5,000 people affected by the eruption, the El Pais reported online. Among those evacuated from surrounding areas so far are 500 tourists, television station Canaris7 reported earlier.

The fire brigade was fighting forest fires caused by the eruption, while a large ash cloud could be seen over the island, home to the Cumbre Vieja volcanic ridge.

Broadcasters showed footage of lava flowing slowly downhill from the volcano towards the coast, crossing a road and surrounding at least one house.

Authorities on the small island with around 83,000 residents called on people to remain calm as the eruption is not particularly explosive so far.

But authorities called a red alert volcanic emergency plan and began evacuations. Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez canceled a planned trip to the United States and arrived on La Palma in the evening.

Because of the approaching lava, which rolled downhill towards the coast in the form of orange-glowing rivers in the dark, around 5,000 residents of the villages of El Paso, Llanos de Aridane and the seaside resort of Tazacorte on the west coast of the island were brought to safety.

The eruption had been expected after thousands of seismic shocks in the past few days. In addition, the ground had been pushed upwards slightly in some places, indicating that magma was accumulating under the Cumbre Vieja.

The volcano had at least seven so-called vents, places from which ash, smoke and lava erupt, state television station RTVE reported. Earlier reports spoke of three to six vents.

Earlier this week, authorities had told people in the south to pack luggage along with their mobile phones, important documents and any medication they may need should they have to evacuate.

The last eruption in La Palma took place in October 1971, when the Teneguia volcano spewed lava for more than three weeks after a fissure appeared in the south of the island.

La Palma, unlike the better-known islands of Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and Tenerife, is not a popular tourist destination.

Canary Islands: Volcano erupts on La Palma destroying several homes

The volcano is spewing red-hot lava and ash into the sky from the island of La Palma. Authorities are preparing to evacuate 10,000 people and some homes have already been razed.

A volcano erupted Sunday on one of Spain's Canary Islands, after a week of heightened seismic activity.

The volcano is located on La Palma, the fifth-largest island in the Spanish archipelago that sits in the Atlantic Ocean off the western coast of Morocco.

Local TV station Radio Television Canaria (RTVC) showed footage of red-hot lava and dust emanating from the Cumbre Vieja National Park in the south of the island.

 Canary Islands regional President Angel Victor Torres told Spanish state broadcaster TVE that no injuries had been reported so far.

Local media reported that several isolated homes were destroyed by the lava flows.

The fire brigade was brought in to fight forest fires caused by the eruption.

Flights to and from the Canaries — which are popular with European tourists — were continuing as normal, airport operator Aena said

Evacuation operation underway

Emergency services immediately began to evacuate around 2,000 residents, authorities said, having started moving those with reduced mobility earlier in the day.

Spain's Civil Guard said later it may need to evacuate up to 10,000 residents.

"People are asked to be extremely careful and to stay away from the eruption zone to avoid needless risk," the government added.

Sunday's eruption follows a series of earth tremors this week, measured at 3.8-magnitude, whose vibrations were felt on the surface.

More than 22,000 tremors were recorded in the area — one of the most active volcanoes in the Canary Islands

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez flew to La Palma on Sunday evening to see the eruption for himself.

Earlier, he said state organizations were ready to support La Palma "in a coordinated manner."

Earlier eruptions lasted months

Itahiza Dominguez, head of seismology at Spain's National Geology Institute, told RTVC that it was too early to tell how long this eruption would last.

He added that prior "eruptions on the Canary Islands lasted weeks or even months."

La Palma has several volcanic craters including San Antonio (pictured)

Eruption area is sparsely populated 

The island of La Palma, one of several in the Canary Islands group, has around 83,000 residents.

Along with Tenerife, La Palma is the most volcanically active of the islands. 

Sunday's eruption is the eighth since records began and the first on La Palma since 1971.

The last eruption on any of the Canary Islands occurred underwater off the coast of El Hierro island in 2011. That event lasted five months.

Unlike the better-known islands of Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and Tenerife, La Palma is not a popular tourist destination.

VIDEO Spain: La Palma volcano erupts — in pictures | All media content | DW | 19.09.2021

mm, jcg/jlw (Reuters, EFE)



Volcano ejects red-hot lava
Sunday's eruption on La Palma sent jets of lava and a plume of smoke and ash into the air from the Cumbre Vieja National Park. La Palma is the fifth-largest of Spain's Canary Islands, which sit in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Morocco.
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Life in the universe may be way more common than we thought

Whether that's good news or not is anyone's guess, though.

by Fermin Koop
September 18, 2021

A group of astronomers at the University of Leeds have identified rich reservoirs of life-giving molecules around young stars in our galaxy — which was previously believed to happen only under rare circumstances. The findings suggest that there could be as much as 100 times more of these molecules in the Milky Way than previously thought.

The researchers published a set of papers in which they detail the discovery of the molecules around disks of gas and dust particles, orbiting around stars. These disks are formed simultaneously with the stars and can eventually form planets. Such as it happened with the disc near the Sun that formed the planets of the Solar Systems.

“These planet-forming disks are teeming with organic molecules, some which are implicated in the origins of life here on Earth,” Kartin Öberg, one of the authors, said in a statement. “This is really exciting. The chemicals in each disk will ultimately affect the type of planets that form and determine whether or not the planets can host life.”

The researchers used the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (or ALMA) radio telescope in Chile to look at the composition of the five discs. ALMA can detect even the weakest signals from molecules in outer space thanks to its 60 antennas. Each molecule emits a light at a different wavelength that scientists can investigate.

The researchers looked for certain organic molecules and found them in four of the five disks, and in much larger numbers than they originally anticipated. These molecules are considered essential to life on Earth. They are believed to have reached the planet through asteroids or comets that crashed into Earth billions of years ago.

The theory of the molecules traveling in asteroids and comets was reaffirmed here, as they were located in the same region that produces space rocks. They weren’t evenly distributed in the discs, with each containing a different mix of molecules. For the researchers, this shows that each planet is created based on a different mix of ingredients.


“ALMA has allowed us to look for these molecules in the innermost regions of these disks, on size scales similar to our Solar System, for the first time. Our analysis shows that the molecules are primarily located in these inner regions with abundances between 10 and 100 times higher than models had predicted,” John Ilee, one of the authors, said in a statement.

The researchers specifically looked for three molecules, cyanoacetylene (HC3N), acetonitrile (CH3CN), and cyclopropenylidene (c-C3H2), in five protoplanetary disks, known as IM Lup, GM Aur, AS 209, HD 163296, and MWC 480. The discs were found 300 to 500 lights years from Earth, with each of them showing signals of on-going planet formation.

The next steps

Following this remarkable discovery, the researchers want to keep on searching for more complex molecules in the protoplanetary disks. They are specifically looking forward to the launch of the James Webb Telescope, so far scheduled for December 18th, as it will help to examine the molecules in much greater detail than before, they added.


“If we are finding molecules like these in such large abundances, our current understanding of interstellar chemistry suggests even more complex molecules should also be observable,” Ilee said in a statement. “If we detect them, then we’ll be even closer to understanding how the raw ingredients of life can be assembled around other stars.”

All the studies related to this finding can be accessed here.

Planets Are Born In Cosmic Organic Soups

Posted by

Paul Scott Anderson

September 18, 2021

Artist’s concept of a protoplanetary disk around a star (left) and the “soup” of 

organic molecules in the disk (right). Image via M.Weiss/ CfA.

Planets are born in cosmic soups

Soup lovers know that there are many different kinds of soup, with a wide variety of tasty ingredients to make them unique. On September 15, 2021, astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, released new evidence related to the “cosmic soups” around stars, from which distant exoplanets form. These cosmic soups are the mix of chemicals in protoplanetary disks around the young stars. These disks are the birthplaces of planets. Astronomers have now mapped out the ingredients – the chemicals in five different protoplanetary disks – in extraordinary detail. They’ve found that, just as with the culinary favorites on Earth, no two cosmic soups are alike.

Astronomer Karin Öberg of CfA led the mapping project.

Interested in the cosmos? Help EarthSky keep showing you what’s up there. Please donate what you can to our annual crowd-funding campaign.

No fewer than 20 new peer-reviewed papers, collectively named “Molecules with ALMA at Planet-forming Scales (MAPS),” have been accepted for publication (pending) in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement. They are also currently available as preprint versions on arXiv (first 20 papers listed).

This photo from ESO’s Very Large Telescope shows a newly-forming baby planet 

(bright spot inside the gap) around the star PDS 70. Planets like this form inside soups

 of organic molecules around their stars. Image via ESO/ A. Müller et al/ AASnova.

Implications for life

Specifically, the astronomers examined five different protoplanetary disks and found dozens of different organic molecules. Protoplanetary disks are massive disk-shaped clouds of gas and dust around young stars. In fact, it is in these disks that planets form. These soups of organic molecules are all different from each other and, consequently, can have implications for the possibility of life.

As Öberg said in a statement:

These planet-forming disks are teeming with organic molecules, some of which are implicated in the origins of life here on Earth. This is really exciting; the chemicals in each disk will ultimately affect the type of planets that form and determine whether or not the planets can host life.

Every soup is unique

The organic chemicals are not, however, spread uniformly through the disks. Instead, their locations are more random, meaning that each soup is unique with its own blend of ingredients. This suggests that planets can form in a wide variety of chemical environments. The location of a planet in the disk also makes a big difference, as Öberg explained:

Our maps reveal it matters a great deal where in a disk a planet forms. Many of the chemicals in the disks are organic, and the distribution of these organics varies dramatically within a particular disk. Two planets can form around the same star and have very different organic inventories, and therefore predispositions to life.

The new mapping project was led by Karin Öberg of CfA. Image via Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.

Our team used these maps to show where some of the forming planets are located within disks, enabling scientists to connect the observed chemical soups with the future compositions of specific planets.

Location, location, location

In total, the researchers mapped 18 different organic molecules in the protoplanetary disks. This includes hydrogen cyanide and other nitriles connected to the origins of life. The Maps III study that identified the specific locations of the molecules was led by CfA graduate student Charles Law. Law and his colleagues used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in 2018 and 2019 to study the five protoplanetary disks.

Indeed, they were able to collect so much data that it took two years to analyze the results. A 100-terabyte hard drive was also required to store the data. The data was not only plentiful, it also held surprises, with Law noting that:

Understanding the chemistry occurring even in a single disk is much more complicated than we thought. Each individual disk appears quite different from the next one, with its own distinctive set of chemical substructures. The planets forming in these disks are going to experience very different chemical environments.

This composite image of ALMA data from the young star HD 163296 shows a 

hydrogen cyanide emission laid over a starfield. Hydrogen cyanide is one of 

18 organic molecules identified by the MAPS mapping project. Image via ALMA

 (ESO/ NAOJ/ NRAO)/ D. Berry (NRAO)/ K. Öberg et al (MAPS)/

 Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.

Looking for newborn planets

Richard Teague, a Submillimeter Array fellow at CfA, used the data and imagery collected by MAPS to hunt for newborn planets in the protoplanetary disks. They are hard to see directly, due to obscuring gas and dust. He said:

It’s like trying to see a fish underwater. We know they’re there, but we can’t peer that far down. We have to look for subtle signs on the surface of the water, like ripples and waves.

Despite that, the researchers got lucky. Teague analyzed gas velocities in two of the five protoplanetary disks. These disks were around the young stars HD 163296 and MWC 480. Correspondingly, they found small hiccups in velocity in certain portions of the disks, revealing a young Jupiter-like planet embedded in each of the disks.

As the planets grow, they will gradually carve out gaps in the disks, like other gaps that already exist and can be seen by telescopes. The upcoming James Webb Space Telescope should be able to spot the planets themselves, as Teague noted:

It should have the sensitivity to pinpoint the planets.

It will be interesting to see how many newborn planets the Webb finds and what ingredients are present in their individual soups.

Bottom line: Astronomers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) have found that planets are born in cosmic soups of organic molecules. These soups have different ingredients, leading to a wide diversity of planets.

Source (preprint): Molecules with ALMA at Planet-forming Scales

Via Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Extensive Chemical Composition Mapping Reveals Carbon-Rich, Organic Birth Environments of Planets

By NATIONAL RADIO ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY SEPTEMBER 18, 2021

This composite image of ALMA data from the young star HD 163296 shows hydrogen cyanide emission laid over an artist’s impression of a starfield. The MAPS project zoomed in on hydrogen cyanide and other organic and inorganic compounds in planet-forming disks to gain a better understanding of the compositions of young planets and how the compositions link to where planets form in a protoplanetary disk. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/D. Berry (NRAO), K. Öberg et al (MAPS)

Scientists connect the dots between where planets form and what they’re made of.

An international collaboration of scientists using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has completed the most extensive chemical composition mapping of the protoplanetary disks around five nearby young stars at high resolution, producing images that capture the molecular composition associated with planetary births, and a roadmap for future studies of the makeup of planet- and comet-forming regions. The new study unlocks clues about the role of molecules in planetary system formation, and whether these young planetary systems in the making have what it takes to host life. The results of the program, appropriately called MAPS, or Molecules with ALMA at Planet-forming Scales, will appear in an upcoming 20-paper special edition of The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series.

Planets form in the disks of dust and gas—also called protoplanetary disks—surrounding young stars. The chemical makeup of—or molecules contained within—these disks may have an impact on the planets themselves, including how and where planetary formation occurs, the chemical composition of the planets, and whether those planets have the organic composition necessary to support life. MAPS specifically looked at the protoplanetary disks surrounding the young stars IM Lup, GM Aur, AS 209, HD 163296, and MWC 480, where evidence of ongoing planet formation has already been detected. The project led to multiple exciting discoveries, including a link between dust and chemical substructures and the presence of large reservoirs of organic molecules in the inner disk regions of the stars.

In this artist’s conception, planets form from the gas and dust in the protoplanetary disk surrounding the young star. The gas is made up of many different molecules, including hydrogen cyanide and more complex nitriles—linked to the development of life on Earth—and other organic and inorganic compounds. From simple organic compounds to the more complex, the soup of molecules in a particular location in the disk shapes the future of the planet forming there, and determines whether or not that planet could support life as we know it. Credit: M.Weiss/Center for Astrophysics/Harvard & Smithsonian

“With ALMA we were able to see how molecules are distributed where exoplanets are currently assembling,” said Karin Öberg, an astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) and the Principal Investigator for MAPS. “One of the really exciting things we saw is that the planet-forming disks around these five young stars are factories of a special class of organic molecules, so-called nitriles, which are implicated in the origins of life here on Earth.”

Simple organic molecules like HCN, C2H, and H2CO were observed throughout the project in unprecedented detail, thanks to the sensitivity and resolving power of ALMA’s Band 3 and Band 6 receivers. “In particular, we were able to observe the amount of small organic molecules in the inner regions of disks, where rocky planets are likely assembling,” said Viviana V. Guzmán, an astronomer at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile’s Instituto de Astrofísica, lead author on MAPS VI and a MAPS co-Principal Investigator. “We’re finding that our own Solar System is not particularly unique, and that other planetary systems around other stars have enough of the basic ingredients to form the building blocks of life.”

Scientists also observed more complex organic molecules like HC3N, CH3CN, and c-C3H2—notably those containing carbon, and therefore most likely to act as the feedstock of larger, prebiotic molecules. Although these molecules have been detected in protoplanetary disks before, MAPS is the first systematic study across multiple disks at very high spatial resolution and sensitivity, and the first study to find the molecules at small scales and in such significant quantities. “We found more of the large organic molecules than expected, a factor of 10 to 100 more, located in the inner disks on scales of the Solar System, and their chemistry appears similar to that of Solar System comets,” said John Ilee, an astronomer at the University of Leeds and the lead author of MAPS IX. “The presence of these large organic molecules is significant because they are the stepping-stones between simpler carbon-based molecules such as carbon monoxide, which is found in abundance in space, and the more complex molecules that are required to create and sustain life.”

Molecules are not distributed uniformly across planet-forming disks, however, as evidenced in MAPS III and IV, which revealed that while the general disk compositions appear to be similar to the Solar System, zooming in at high resolution reveals some diversity in composition that could result in planet-to-planet differences. “Molecular gas in protoplanetary disks is often found in sets of distinct rings and gaps,” said Charles Law, CfA astronomer and lead author on MAPS III and IV. “But the same disk observed in different molecular emission lines often looks completely different, with each disk having multiple molecular faces. This also means that planets in different disks or even in the same disk at different locations may form in radically different chemical environments.” This means that some planets form with the necessary tools for building and sustaining life while other nearby planets may not.

One of those radically different environments occurs in the space surrounding Jupiter-like planets, where scientists found the gas to be poor in carbon, oxygen, and heavier elements, while rich in hydrocarbons, such as methane. “The chemistry that is seen in protoplanetary disks should be inherited by forming planets,” said Arthur Bosman, an astronomer at the University of Michigan and lead author of MAPS VII. “Our findings suggest that many gas giants may form with extremely oxygen-poor (carbon-rich) atmospheres, challenging current expectations of planet compositions.”

Taken all together, MAPS is providing exactly that: a map for scientists to follow, connecting the dots between the gas and dust in a protoplanetary disk and the planets that eventually form from them to create a planetary system. “A planet’s composition is a record of the location in the disk in which it was formed,” said Bosman. “Connecting planet and disk composition enables us to peer into the history of a planet and helps us to understand the forces that formed it.”

Joe Pesce, astronomer and ALMA program officer at the National Science Foundation (NSF) notes, “Whether life exists beyond Earth is one of humanity’s fundamental questions. We now know planets are found everywhere, and the next step is to determine if they have the conditions necessary for life as we know it (and how common that situation might be). The MAPS program will help us better answer these questions. ALMA’s search for precursors to life far from Earth complements studies conducted in laboratories, and in places like hydrothermal vents on Earth.”

Öberg added, “MAPS is the culmination of decades of work on the chemistry of planet-forming disks by scientists using ALMA and its precursors. Although MAPS has surveyed just five disks at this time, we had no idea how chemically complex and visually stunning these disks really were until now. MAPS has first answered questions we could not have imagined asking decades ago, and also presented us with many more questions to answer.”

Learn more about the MAPS Program at the project web site.

Highlighted papers

“Molecules with ALMA at Planet-forming Scales (MAPS) I: Program overview and highlights,” K. Öberg et al, The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, preview [https://arxiv.org/pdf/2109.06268.pdf]

“Molecules with ALMA at Planet-forming Scales (MAPS) III: Characteristics of radial chemical substructures,” C. Law et al, The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, preview [https://arxiv.org/pdf/2109.06210.pdf]

“Molecules with ALMA at Planet-forming Scales (MAPS). IV: Emission Surfaces and Vertical Distribution of Molecules,” C. Law, The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, preview [https://arxiv.org/pdf/2109.06217.pdf]

“Molecules with ALMA at Planet-forming Scales (MAPS) VI: Distribution of the small organics HCN, C2H, and H2CO,” V. Guzmán et al, The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, preview [https://arxiv.org/pdf/2109.06391.pdf]

“Molecules with ALMA at Planet-forming Scales (MAPS) VII: Substellar O/H and C/H and superstellar C/O in planet-feeding gas,” A. Bosman et al, The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, preview [https://arxiv.org/pdf/2109.06221.pdf]

“Molecules with ALMA at Planet-forming Scales (MAPS) IX: “Distribution and properties of the large organic molecules HC3N, CH3CN, and c-C3H2,” J. Ilee et al, The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, preview [https://arxiv.org/pdf/2109.06319.pdf]

About ALMA

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO), the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded by ESO on behalf of its Member States, by NSF in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and by NINS in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI).

ALMA construction and operations are led by ESO on behalf of its Member States; by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), on behalf of North America; and by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) on behalf of East Asia. The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.