The creation of the Universe was a messy business, and billions of years after the Big Bang, material still litters the dark space between stars. In these cold interstellar regions, gas and dust specks swirl together, sometimes coalescing to form new stars, sometimes expanding as dying stars spew forth new material into the void. Much of the chemistry that happens in interstellar clouds remains a mystery, but recent work by astrochemists from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh sheds new light on this dark part of the Universe, demonstrating the key role that icy dust specks can play in facilitating the formation of a type of organic molecule that could be a precursor to the building blocks of life. The researchers will present their work at the AVS Symposium, held Oct. 30 – Nov. 4, in Nashville, Tenn.
To read more, click here.