astrochemistry

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astrochemistry

(ass-troh-kem -iss-tree) The study of the chemistry of celestial bodies and of the intervening regions of space. It involves the detection and identification, principally by spectroscopy, of the inorganic and organic chemicals present and the study of the reactions by which these neutral and charged atoms and molecules could have been produced and of future chemical processes. See also molecular-line radio astronomy.

Collins Dictionary of Astronomy © Market House Books Ltd, 2006

astrochemistry

[¦as·trō′kem·ə·strē]

(astronomy)

The science that applies the principles of chemistry to matter in space.

References in periodicals archive ?

New laboratory techniques have allowed astrochemists to measure the characteristic patterns of such radio frequencies for specific molecules.

Chemical precursors for life may have formed on dusty ice grains floating between stars

That bias gave way several years ago, when astrochemists discovered molecules of ammonia and formaldehyde containing two deuterium atoms, adds Lis.

Rare find: odd type of ammonia detected in space. (Science News This Week)

Astrochemists have discovered another organic chemical in the same region of space where other researchers had identified the first extraterrestrial sugar (SN: 6/24/00, p.