Hunt for Molecules

19 - 20 September 2005, Paris



Motivation
LOC
Scientific Program
Practical Informations
Registration (+modification)
Participants
Abstracts
Proceedings
The Book  New!
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List of Interstellar Molecules

Motivation

Colloquium Poster The discovery in the interstellar medium of ammonia and water at Hat Creek in 1968, and formaldehyde at Green Bank in 1969 triggered a frenetic hunt for new molecules, both to better know the interstellar chemistry, the physical conditions of molecular clouds in space, and also to discover organic molecules, as building blocks of biological molecules. A large number of new molecules in this hunt were found at the NRAO-12m telescope, in the USA. Today many millimetric telescopes are operating in Europe, USA and Japan, and ALMA is in preparation.
(click on the image to download the poster)

The purpose of this meeting, in recognition of the fundamental role played by Pierre Encrenaz in preparing the French community to the millimeter window, is to review the state of the art in the molecule hunt, and trace the perspectives with the future instruments. While complex molecules continue to be detected for the first time, like for instance ethylene glycol (antifreeze), or the first sugar (glycol-aldehyde), the first amino-acid (glycine) has not yet been found in the interstellar medium. Molecules are detected at higher and higher redshifts, and one of the most exciting issue at present is to be able to detect the signature of primordial molecules during the dark ages. The search for molecules is pursued in all objects, and the solar system is always reserving more surprises.

The meeting will address the presence of molecules in the solar system, in the interstellar medium, and in the early universe. The strategy and prediction with the future instruments will be reviewed.

The main topics are:

  • Molecules in the interstellar medium
  • Molecules in planets and comets
  • Primordial molecules
  • Progress in instrumentation



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