2018 Census of Interstellar, Circumstellar, Extragalactic, Protoplanetary Disk, and Exoplanetary Molecules

By B. McGuire. Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 2018

396 citations recorded by the source corpus.

To date, 204 individual molecular species, comprised of 16 different elements, have been detected in the interstellar and circumstellar medium by astronomical observations. These molecules range in size from 2 atoms to 70, and have been detected across the electromagnetic spectrum from centimeter wavelengths to the ultraviolet. This census presents a summary of the first detection of each molecular species, including the observational facility, wavelength range, transitions, and enabling laboratory spectroscopic work, as well as listing tentative and disputed detections. Tables of molecules detected in interstellar ices, external galaxies, protoplanetary disks, and exoplanetary atmospheres are provided. A number of visual representations of these aggregate data are presented and briefly discussed in context.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Atmospheric Science, Spectroscopy

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/1bb68948641ad0e1d9d50ebfe648694a8a7323b9

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. E. Bergin
2. K. Oberg
3. D. Wilner
4. S. Andrews
5. C. Qi
6. E. Herbst
7. T. Birnstiel
8. C. Walsh

In Atmospheric Science

1. E. Bergin
2. E. Herbst
3. C. Walsh
4. K. Oberg
5. Y. Aikawa
6. H. Nomura
7. A. Bosman
8. F. Ménard

In Spectroscopy

1. E. Bergin
2. D. Wilner
3. K. Oberg
4. S. Andrews
5. C. Qi
6. C. Walsh
7. E. Herbst
8. Steven B. Charnley

Citations in the corpus

• Discovery of the Pure Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Indene (c-C9H8) with GOTHAM Observations of TMC-1 (2021, background): “In contrast, a molecule’s pure rotational spectroscopy at radio and millimeter frequencies provides detailed information into its excitation conditions and abundance (McGuire 2018).”
• Molecules with ALMA at Planet-forming Scales (MAPS). I. Program Overview and Highlights (2021, background): “…can only detect a subset of the organics observed in the remnants of our own disk, i.e., in comets; 48 different organic molecules have been found towards comet 67P to date (Altwegg et al. 2019), while only 12 (10 at millimeter wavelengths) have been detected in protoplanetary disks (McGuire 2018).”
• Astrochemistry and compositions of planetary systems (2020, background): “Through these different kinds of astronomical observations more than 200 molecules have been identified in interstellar and circumstellar environments, the vast majority of which are organic (McGuire 2018).”