Nitrogen-bearing molecules are more difficult to observe than oxygen-bearing ones, mainly due to the lower abundance of nitrogen in the interstellar medium.
In recent years, several aromatic molecules (benzene-based rings) have been detected in the cold molecular cloud TMC-1, with its CN-derivative, benzonitrile (c-C6H5CN), also identified in other nearby cold sources.
Acetone (CH3COCH3) is a ubiquitous interstellar molecule, and serves as an important tracer of hot core chemistry. We conducted a line survey of acetone and its precursor acetaldehyde (CH3CHO) towards […]
Reactions occurring on the ice-covered surfaces of interstellar dust grains are considered to be among the most important sources of complex species in the interstellar medium. Despite this, molecules such […]
The recent detections of thioformyl cyanide (HCSCN) and propynethial (HCSCCH) in TMC-1 provide critical insights into the interstellar sulfur inventory, yet their sequestration and survivability on dust grain mantles remain […]
We aim to provide a systematic and quantitative description of the hydrogenation network connecting HCN and HNC to methylamine on interstellar water ices, while identifying dominant pathways and bottlenecks.
![The green-to-red intensity ratio of [O I] (G/R) in 3I (filled circle), compared with measurements for a sample of Solar System comets: Jupiter-family comets (JFCs; open triangles), Oort Cloud comets (OCCs; open squares), and Halley-type comets (HTCs; crosses) from A. Decock et al. (2013); A. McKay et al. (2015); Y. Shinnaka & H. Kawakita (2016); Y. Shinnaka et al. (2020), as well as C/2016 R2 from C. Opitom et al. (2019) and 2I/Borisov from C. Opitom et al. (2021). -- astro-ph.GA](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/A-post-perihelion-constraint.png?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
We present high-resolution optical spectroscopy of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1) obtained with the High Dispersion Spectrograph mounted on the Subaru Telescope on UT 2026 January 7, when the comet […]
The increasing detection of new molecules in the interstellar medium (ISM) shows that stereoisomerism is a fundamental contributor to interstellar molecular complexity.
The detectability of C6H5CN+ (benzonitrile cation) in the diffuse ISM is re-evaluated. A holistic evidentiary framework suggests C6H5CN+ is relatively absent in the diffuse ISM owing to the following concurrently: […]
SPHEREx is a NASA mission designed to perform an all-sky spectroscopic survey in the 0.75 – 5 μm wavelength range. Its primary science objectives are to investigate: (1) inflationary cosmology, […]
