Related papers: Organic Molecules in Insterstellar Space: Latest a…
We report high signal-to-noise Spitzer IRS spectra of a sample of eleven classical T Tauri stars. Molecular emission from rotational transitions of H2O and OH and ro-vibrational bands of simple organic molecules (CO2, HCN, C2H2) is common…
We investigate the star-formation ocurring in the region towards IRAS07527-3446 in the molecular cloud [MAB97]250.63-3.63, in the far outer Galaxy. We report the discovery of a new young stellar cluster, and describe its properties and…
The detection of organic molecules with increasing complexity and potential biological relevance is opening the possibility to understand the formation of the building blocks of life in the interstellar medium. One of the families of…
We present the detection of ethanol (C2H5OH), acetone (CH3COCH3), and propanal (C2H5CHO) toward the cyanopolyyne peak of TMC-1. These three O-bearing complex organic molecules are known to be present in warm interstellar clouds, but had…
We present time dependent chemical models for a dense and warm O-rich gas exposed to a strong far ultraviolet field aiming at exploring the formation of simple organic molecules in the inner regions of protoplanetary disks around T Tauri…
In order to understand galaxy evolution through cosmic times it is critical to derive the properties of the molecular gas content of galaxies, i.e. the material out of which stars ultimately form. The last decade has seen rapid progress in…
Complex organic molecules (COMs) are widely detected in protostellar and protoplanetary systems, where they are thought to have been inherited in large part from earlier evolutionary phases. The chemistry of COMs in these earlier phases,…
The circumstellar envelopes of carbon-rich AGB stars show a chemical complexity that is exemplified by the prototypical object IRC +10216, in which about 60 different molecules have been detected to date. Most of these species are carbon…
(abridged:) The Taurus Molecular Cloud (TMC) contains numerous prototypical examples of deeply embedded protostars with massive disks and outflows, classical and weak-lined T Tauri stars, jets and Herbig-Haro objects, and a growing number…
Context. The detection of NH2CH2CH2OH (ethanolamine) in molecular cloud G+0.693-0.027 adds an additional player to the prebiotic molecules discovered so far in the interstellar medium (ISM). As this molecule might be formed through…
Are the organic molecules crucial for life on Earth abundant in early-epoch galaxies? To address this, we searched for organic molecules in extragalactic sources via their absorption features, known as diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs).…
Massive young stellar objects (MYSOs) with hot cores are classic sources of complex organic molecules. The origins of these molecules in such sources, as well as the small- and large-scale differentiation between nitrogen- and…
(Abridged) The birth environment of the Sun will have influenced the conditions in the pre-solar nebula, including the attainable chemical complexity, important for prebiotic chemistry. The formation and distribution of complex organic…
Transient microstructure in the diffuse interstellar medium has been observed towards galactic and extragalactic sources for decades, usually in lines of atoms and ions, and, more recently, in molecular lines. Evidently, there is a…
(abridged) Our project endeavors to obtain a robust view of multiplicity among embedded Class I and Flat Spectrum protostars in a wide array of nearby molecular clouds to disentangle ``universal'' from cloud-dependent processes. We have…
We report the discovery of a new young stellar cluster and molecular cloud located in the far outer Galaxy, seen towards IRAS 06361-0142, and we characterise their properties. Near-infrared images were obtained with VLT/ISAAC through JHKs…
The cold molecular gas in contemporary galaxies is structured in discrete cloud complexes. These giant molecular clouds (GMCs), with $10^4$-$10^7$ solar masses and radii of 5-100 parsecs, are the seeds of star formation. Highlighting the…
Chemical evolution is essential in understanding the origins of life. We present a theory for the evolution of molecule masses and show that small molecules grow by random diffusion and large molecules by a preferential attachment process…
Recent detections of complex organic molecules in dark clouds have rekindled interest in the astrochemical modeling of these environments. Because of its relative closeness and rich molecular complexity, TMC-1 has been extensively observed…
Using the recently-commissioned Submillimeter Array (SMA), we have detected several complex organic molecules, including (CH3)2O, C2H5OH, C2H5CN, and tentatively CH2CDCN, toward the protostellar hot cores of IRAS 16293-2422 at…