Complex Interstellar Molecules
Eric Herbst (Ohio State University)
In the last thirty years, astronomers have detected a large number of
molecules in the gas and solid phases of interstellar clouds, which are
large and inhomogeneous accumulations of matter in between stars in our
galaxy and others. The molecules are useful as probes of the current
physical conditions in interstellar clouds and also yield information on the
cloud lifetimes. The most complex of these molecules are found in regions
of interstellar clouds that are collapsing to form stars and planets, and so
tell us about the evolutionary stages leading to stellar and planetary
formation. Moreover, these complex molecules are of interest to chemists
because of the unusual manner in which they are synthesized and to
geologists and biologists because they are related to the initial inventory
of molecules present at the creation of planets.
