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In carbon stars, the carbon when it's in close to the star, just like every other molecule and atom there, is essentially in its ionised state. It's only once the carbon drifts out from the star does it condense into tiny soot particles, much like the dust in the ISM and about the same size. As I was saying previously, these guys have to account for the fact that UV light (although around a carbon star there isn't too much of that to begin with) dissociates water molecules. If this UV is coming from interstellar space, as the article says, then we have to have a source somewhere close by, preferably a rather hot star...O or B preferably.
I don't think this has challenged current theory as it has added another layer of complexity to the problem. It still think they need to nut this one through a bit more before they can say anything definitively about what's happening.
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