Recently in the Astrochemistry Category

Advanced telescopes, such as ALMA and JWST, are likely to show that the chemical universe may be even more complex than currently observed, requiring astrochemical modelers to improve their models to account for the impact of new data.

Astronomers like to say we are the byproducts of stars, stellar furnaces that long ago fused hydrogen and helium into the elements needed for life through the process of stellar nucleosynthesis. As the late Carl Sagan once put it: "The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of star stuff."

We report the detection of linear and cyclic isomers of C3H and C3H2 towards various starless cores and review the corresponding chemical pathways involving neutral (C3Hx with x=1,2) and ionic (C3Hx+ with x = 1,2,3) isomers.

A specific 4641Da amino acid polymer entity is present in two CV3 meteorites Acfer 086 and Allende, together with its breakdown polymer fragments of mass < 2000Da.

NASA scientists have definitively detected the chemical acrylonitrile in the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan, a place that has long intrigued scientists investigating the chemical precursors of life.

Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is one of our solar system's most intriguing and Earth-like bodies. It is nearly as large as Mars and has a hazy atmosphere made up mostly of nitrogen with a smattering of organic, carbon-based molecules, including methane (CH₄) and ethane (C₂H₆).

Astronomers have used an Australian radio telescope to observe molecular signatures from stars, gas and dust in our galaxy, which could lead to the detection of complex molecules that are precursors to life.

We report the first detection and high angular resolution (1.8" × 1.1") imaging of acetic acid (CH₃COOH) and gGg′--ethylene glycol (gGg′(CH₂OH)₂) towards the Orion Kleinmann--Low nebula.

There is a long-standing debate regarding the origin of the terrestrial planets' water as well as the hydrated C-type asteroids. Here we show that the inner Solar System's water is a simple byproduct of the giant planets' formation.

We present experimental constraints on the insertion of oxygen atoms into methane to form methanol in astrophysical ice analogs.