Detection of CO2 ice in the planetary nebula NGC 6302
Journal article, 2026
Using JWST/MIRI observations, we report the detection of CO2 ice in the dusty torus of the planetary nebula NGC 6302, an environment generally considered hostile to fragile molecular species and ices due to intense UV irradiation. This detection accompanies cold (20-50 K) gas-phase CO2 along the same sightlines. The ice absorption profile exhibits a double-peak profile, which is characteristic of pure crystalline CO2 ce. The CO2 gas-to-ice ratio is higher by more than an order of magnitude than in young stellar objects, which indicates distinct ice formation or processing mechanisms in evolved stellar environments. This discovery demonstrates that the dusty torus provides sufficient shielding to harbor ice chemistry, and that ice-mediated surface reactions must be incorporated into chemical models of planetary nebulae.
astrochemistry
planetary nebulae: general
ISM: molecules
circumstellar matter
ISM: general
Author
C. Bhatt
Western University
S W Cao
Western University
J. Cami
Western University
Nicholas Clark
Western University
P. Ehrenfreund
Leiden University
Els Peeters
Western University
M. Matsuura
Cardiff University
G. C. Sloan
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Harriet L. Dinerstein
University of Texas at Austin
Patrick Kavanagh
Maynooth University
K. Volk
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Isabel Aleman
Laboratorio Nacional de Astrofisica
M. J. Barlow
University College London (UCL)
Kay Justtanont
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
Kathleen E. Kraemer
Boston College
J. H. Kastner
Rochester Institute of Technology
F. Kemper
Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies
Institute of Space Sciences (ICE)
Inst Estudis Espacials Catalunya IEEC
Hektor Monteiro
Federal University of Itajubá
Cardiff University
R. Sahai
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
N. C. Sterling
University of West Georgia
Jeremy R. Walsh
European Southern Observatory (ESO)
L. B. F. M. Waters
Radboud University
Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON)
A. Zijlstra
University of Manchester
Astronomy and Astrophysics
0004-6361 (ISSN) 1432-0746 (eISSN)
Vol. 708 L13Roots
Basic sciences
Subject Categories (SSIF 2025)
Astronomy, Astrophysics, and Cosmology
Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences
DOI
10.1051/0004-6361/202558267
Related datasets
Data for NGC 6302 papers [dataset]
DOI: 10.17909/s1rn-1t84