Abstract
ASTRONOMERS generally believe that the carbonaceous material emerging from stars must be in the form of graphite, the most stable condensed form of carbon, and that such emergence must be confined to situations where the C/O ratio exceeds unity, such as in the atmospheres of carbon stars. We argue here that this state of affairs remains valid for mass flows from stars of sufficiently low surface temperatures, but it is not correct for low density flows from stars with colour temperatures ≳ 4,000 K (or for oscillatory stars with colour temperatures that go above 4,000 K for a portion of their cycle). In the latter case we show that carbonaceous material comprised mainly of polysaccharides will be able to condense.
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HOYLE, F., WICKRAMASINGHE, N. Origin and nature of carbonaceous material in the galaxy. Nature 270, 701–703 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/270701a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/270701a0
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