Recently in the Astrochemistry Category

NASA scientists studying the origin of life have reproduced uracil, cytosine, and thymine, three key components of our hereditary material, in the laboratory.

A research team led by Shuro Takano at NAOJ and Taku Nakajima at Nagoya University observed the spiral galaxy M77 with ALMA and discovered that organic molecules are concentrated in a region surrounding a supermassive black hole at its center.

The high abundances of Complex Organic Molecules (COMs) with respect to methanol, the most abundant COM, detected towards low-mass protostars, tend to be underpredicted by astrochemical models.

We studied the relation between the chemical composition and the type of dust present in a group of 20 Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe) that have high quality optical and infrared spectra.

Formamide (NH₂CHO) has been proposed as a pre-biotic precursor with a key role in the emergence of life on Earth. While this molecule has been observed in space, most of its detections correspond to high-mass star-forming regions.

Understanding the collisional properties of ice is important for understanding both the early stages of planet formation and the evolution of planetary ring systems.

Atmospheres with a high C/O ratio are expected to contain an important quantity of hydrocarbons, including heavy molecules (with more than 2 carbon atoms).

Comparison of their chemical compositions shows, to first order, a good agreement between the cometary and interstellar abundances.

Ideas about directing evolution of life forms on Earth and finding life on other planets are rapidly morphing from science-fiction fantasy into mainstream science, says David Lynn, a chemist at Emory University.

It is generally agreed that hydrogenation reactions dominate chemistry on grain surfaces in cold, dense molecular cores, saturating the molecules present in ice mantles.