Interstellar molecules as a research area focuses on the detection, identification, and characterization of molecules in the interstellar medium (ISM), and on understanding their formation pathways, destruction processes, and astrochemical evolution. It integrates radio, millimeter, infrared, and UV spectroscopy with theoretical chemistry and reaction-kinetics modeling to constrain physical conditions in molecular clouds, diffuse clouds, and circumstellar envelopes. Research addresses gas-phase and grain-surface chemistry, isotopic fractionation, and the role of UV radiation, cosmic rays, and shocks in driving molecular complexity. This field informs models of star and planet formation, the chemical enrichment of galaxies, and the potential prebiotic inventory delivered to nascent planetary systems.
The chemical element sulfur is essential for all lifeforms and is a building block of proteins and amino acids. By studying sulfur-based molecules in space, scientists are working to understand the chemical processes that ...
Astrobiology
Mar 20, 2025
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Where is all the water that may form oceans on distant planets and moons? The SPHEREx astrophysics mission will search the galaxy and take stock.
Astronomy
Feb 13, 2025
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49
Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have characterized the atmosphere of a hot super-Neptune exoplanet designated WASP-166 b. As a result, they found that the atmosphere of this alien world contains water ...
The missing ingredient for cooking up stars in the same way you might steam your Christmas pudding has been spotted for the first time by astronomers. Much like a pressure cooker has a weight on top of its lid to keep the ...
Astronomy
Dec 19, 2024
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156
A team led by researchers at MIT has discovered that a distant interstellar cloud contains an abundance of pyrene, a type of large, carbon-containing molecule known as a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH).
Astrobiology
Oct 24, 2024
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89
Astrochemist Ryan Fortenberry, UM associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, collaborated with Ralf Kaiser, of the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, to study the creation of a simple sugar acid in space-like conditions. ...
Astrobiology
Sep 25, 2024
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53
A group of researchers has used equipment originally intended for astronomy observation to capture transformations in the nuclear structure of atomic nuclei, reports a new study in Scientific Reports.
General Physics
Feb 13, 2024
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146
Evidence suggests that carbon nanotubes, tiny tubes consisting of pure carbon, could be forged in the envelopes of dust and gas surrounding dying stars. The findings propose a simple, yet elegant mechanism for the formation ...
Nanophysics
Jun 17, 2022
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