Have molecules been found in space?

Answer 1

Yes. You can view the current list of 119 molecules at Al Wootten's page at the NRAO. Since the 1950's, astronomers have found over 50 different kinds of molecules in dense 'interstellar clouds'. The most common molecules that have been detected are carbon monoxide ( CO), hydroxyl (OH), silicon monoxide (SiO) and graphite ( in the form of dust grains). Water, formaldehyde, ammonia, and cyanogen have also been detected. The most complex molecules have 10 or more atoms.

The longest molecules I have heard about are Ethyl Cyanide, CH3CH2CN with 9 atoms; and a 13-atom molecule NC11N. There were 66 molecules listed in a table dated from 1990, and I am sure a few more have been found since then. The best hunting grounds are in the Orion Molecular Cloud and in the massive molecular cloud called Sagittarius B2 in the center of the Milky Way.

Answer 2

Yes, astronomers have known for quite some time that there are molecules in outer space. We have detected chemicals as complex as formaldehyde. Astronomers also know that comets are filled with lots of chemical compounds including organic ones. There is even a theory that a comet collision with the earth may have been how the first roots of life came to our planet. Scientists have tested various organic compounds resistance to heat after the discovery of the life forms around the steam vents at the bottom of the ocean. So we know that complex chemical compounds can exist in hot regions, even life forms.

How do we know what is in outer space? Spectral analysis: when a chemical burns it gives off a certain color. Look at the light waves in a prism and the colors will be separated into the light’s Spectrum. This will tell you what chemicals are present in the sample. From this, and a knowledge of how chemicals react, we know what chemical compounds are present.

We have studied the hot gases in a comet’s tails, the hot dust clouds near other stars, the light given off by stars, and the hot gases that escape Jupiter and Saturn with our fly-by probes. All this lets us make estimations of what chemical compounds can be found in space. Stars don’t contain chemical compounds because they are too hot and it is hot enough to prevent them from binding. But, based on our knowledge we know that chemical compounds can be found all over the universe. This is a major support in our belief that other life forms could exist on other planets. The complex chemical compounds are there. All it takes is a spark and that certain something that creates life.

Answer 3

American Astronomical Society - Harlow Shapley Visiting Lecturer
American Chemical Society Tour Speaker


Emerita Research Professor of Astronomy
Astronomy Department
University of Illinois



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MOLECULES IN INTERSTELLAR SPACE

Only a few molecules were known to exist in outer space when the first interstellar molecule discovered by radio techniques, the hydroxyl radical (OH), was observed in 1963. Since then, over 130 molecules have been detected. Space is a good vacuum so the times between collisions can be hours to several years as opposed to fractions of seconds on earth; therefore, in addition to the radicals, ions also remain stable for many years and long carbon chain molecules can form. The most complex carbon chain molecule discovered so far is HCCCCCCCCCCCN with 13 atoms. The simple molecules are formed in gas-phase reactions while the more complex ones involve surface chemistry on grains.

Molecules are found in clouds of cold gas and dust which are distributed throughout the Milky Way Galaxy. These clouds are huge; they can have masses 100,000 times the mass of the sun and diameters of 300 light years. Molecular clouds fragment into small clumps which collapse to form stars which ionize their surroundings and begin to disrupt the remaining molecular clouds. The disruption can create new clumps which, in turn, collapse to form the next generation of stars. Because molecular clouds are opaque to "visible" light, infrared and radio telescopes are used to study the dramatic activity within them.

Among the images to be presented are a 35 ton radio antenna on the move to a different location in the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland-Association (BIMA) mm-wave array,; one of the first maps of the carbon monoxide emission from a molecular cloud (in this case from the Cygnus dark rift); and more recent high resolution observations of the same region made with the BIMA array, which show a massive, bipolar outflow of gas moving at tens of miles per second. The talk is suitable for all ages from professional scientists to Middle School students interested in science and space. A current list of the known interstellar molecules will be available.

Need: Overhead and slide projectors
Alternative title to above lecture: "Cosmic Chemistry"

Appropriate for a science, physics, chemistry, and/or astronomy seminar; available also as a Public Lecture

Science Lecture (ACS topic 2): Subject Category AC; Audience Level 2,3
available also as a Public Lecture C: AC, GP; 2,3,4

Answer 4

Yes. Mars, for example, is full of molecules. But if you mean space as in the vacuumof space, then no, because a vacuum has no matter.

Answer 5

molecules are made up of atom. Yes, molecules have been found in space.

Answer 6

Yes of course. All of the stars, nebulae and almost any other form of matter in space is made of molecules. And remember...we too are in space.

Answer 7

Yes

Answer 8

well yes, there is dust in space so the dust would have molecules.

Answer 9

Yeah I read it and too me it means nothing really, There's no way that were the only intelligent life in the whole universe there's probably another planet of humans somewhere out there

Answer 10

Yes.