Related papers: Chemistry in the Galactic Center
The increasing number of observations towards different environments in the Milky Way, as well as theoretical and experimental works, are improving our knowledge of the astrochemical processes in the interstellar medium (ISM). In this…
At a distance of 8 kpc only, the center of the Galaxy provides a unique testbed for studies about the physics of the interstellar medium and star formation in the nuclei of galaxies. Since it shares many properties of other, more…
Contrary to popular belief, the interstellar medium (ISM) is not empty; it is filled with atoms, dust particles, and molecules. Some of these molecules may have been the very building blocks of life that, delivered to Earth via comets and…
Nitriles play a key role as molecular precursors in prebiotic experiments based on the RNA-world scenario for the origin of life. These chemical compounds could have been partially delivered to the young Earth from extraterrestrial objects,…
The past century of interstellar dust has brought us from first ignoring it to finding that it plays an important role in the evolution of galaxies. Current observational results in our galaxy provide a complex physical and chemical…
In the past decade, Astrochemistry has witnessed an impressive increase in the number of detections of complex organic molecules. Some of these species are of prebiotic interest such as glycolaldehyde, the simplest sugar, or amino…
The Galactic centre - as the closest galactic nucleus - holds both intrinsic interest and possibly represents a useful analogue to star-burst nuclei which we can observe with orders of magnitude finer detail than these external systems. The…
The 1-50 GHz GBT PRIMOS data contains ~50 molecular absorption lines observed in diffuse and translucent clouds located in the Galactic Center, Bar, and spiral arms in the line-of-sight to Sgr B2(N). We measure the column densities and…
Molecular clouds at the Galactic center (GC) have environments considerably different from their disk counterparts. The GC may therefore provide important clues about how the environment affects star formation. Interestingly, while the…
A brief overview of recent advances in the study of star formation in the Galactic Center (GC) environment is presented. Particular attention is paid to new insights concerning the suppression of star formation in GC molecular clouds.…
We present some recent studies on the physical conditions and the chemistry of the interstellar medium (ISM) in the Galactic center region (GCR). Large scale shocks in the context of a bar potential can play a role in explaining the…
Understanding whether prebiotic molecules can endure and reform through the energetic stages of star formation is essential for tracing the continuity of interstellar chemistry toward life. Glycolamide, an isomer of glycine, was recently…
Charged dust grains in the atmospheres of exoplanets may play a key role in the formation of prebiotic molecules, necessary to the origin of life. Dust grains submerged in an atmospheric plasma become negatively charged and attract a flux…
Hot molecular cores (HMCs), the cradles of massive stars, are the most chemically rich sources in the Galaxy. The typical masses of these cores (few hundreds of solar masses) make them the most important reservoirs of complex organic…
Research on Galactic Center star formation is making great advances, in particular due to new data from interferometers spatially resolving molecular clouds in this environment. These new results are discussed in the context of established…
Star formation within the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) may be intimately linked to the orbital dynamics of the gas. Recent models suggest that star formation within the dust ridge molecular clouds (from G0.253+0.016 to Sgr B2) follows an…
The Galactic Centre (GC) has experienced a high degree of recent star-forming activity, as evidenced by the large number of massive stars currently residing there. The relative abundances of chemical elements in the GC may provide insights…
The Galactic Center contains the most massive young clusters in the Galaxy and serves as the closest example of a massive starburst region. Our recent results suggest that the Galactic Center environment produces massive clusters with…
Stars like our Sun and planets like our Earth form in dense regions within interstellar molecular clouds, called pre-stellar cores (PSCs). PSCs provide the initial conditions in the process of star and planet formation. In the past 15…
The physical conditions of the Galactic center (GC) clouds moving with non-circular velocities are not well-known. We have studied the physical conditions of these clouds with the aim of better understanding the origin of the outstanding…