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Motivation
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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)
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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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