Recently in the Astrochemistry Category

The cometary materials are thought to be the reservoir of primitive materials in the solar system. The recent detection of glycine and CH₃NH₂ by the ROSINA mass spectrometer in the coma of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko suggests that amino acids and their precursors have been formed in such an early evolutionary phase of the Solar System.

The C₂H₄O₂ isomers have been previously investigated primarily via disparate sets of observations involving single dish and array measurements.

Complex organics are now commonly found in meteorites, comets, asteroids, planetary satellites, and interplanetary dust particles. The chemical composition and possible origin of these organics are presented.

Theories of a pre-RNA world suggest that glycolonitrile (HOCH₂CN) is a key species in the process of ribonucleotide assembly, which is considered as a molecular precursor of nucleic acids.

Rocky planets orbiting red dwarf stars may be bone dry and lifeless, according to a new study using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Water and organic compounds, essential for life as we know it, may get blown away before they can reach the surface of young planets.

Chondrites are undifferentiated sediments of material left over from the earliest solar system and are widely considered as representatives of the unprocessed building blocks of the terrestrial planets.

Using the infrared satellite AKARI, a Japanese research team has detected the existence of water in the form of hydrated minerals in a number of asteroids for the first time.

New research suggests that the sugar molecule that puts the "D" in DNA -- 2-deoxyribose -- could exist in the far reaches of space. A team of NASA astrophysicists were able to create DNA's sugar in laboratory conditions that mimic interstellar space.

Photochemistry induced by stellar UV flux should produce haze particles in exoplanet atmospheres. Recent observations indicate that haze and/or cloud layers exist in the atmospheres of exoplanets.

In their search for life in solar systems near and far, researchers have often accepted the presence of oxygen in a planet's atmosphere as the surest sign that life may be present there. A new Johns Hopkins study, however, recommends a reconsideration of that rule of thumb.