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interstellar molecule
subject			fact

interstellar molecule	has discovery in space date
	has definition Molecule present in interstellar space. As of late 1974, at least 33 molecular species had been identified with reasonable certainty.
	is a kind of molecule
particle	obeys uncertainty principle
	has frequency inversely proportional to the wavelength
	has wavelength inversely proportional to its momentum
	has charge
	has mass
physical object	has location or center of gravity
	has angular momentum
	has velocity
	has momentum
	has temperature
	has volume
	has extent
	has material

Kinds of interstellar molecule :

• acetaldehyde (2 facts) (CH₃CHO)
• ammonia (3 facts) (NH₃)
• carbon monosulfide (3 facts) (CS)
• carbon monoxide (5 facts) (CO) - A molecule consisting of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom. It is the most abundant interstellar molecule after molecular hydrogen and is especially useful because it radiates at radio wavelengths, so astronomers can use it to map the distribution of molecular hydrogen.
• carbonyl sulfide (2 facts) (OCS)
• cyanoacetylene (2 facts) (HC₃N)
• cyanogen radical (3 facts) (CN)
• dimethyl ether (2 facts) ((CH₃)₂O)
• ethyl alcohol (2 facts) (C₂H₅OH)
• ethynyl
• formaldehyde (4 facts) (H₂CO) - An organic molecule, the first polyatomic molecule to be discovered in interstellar space. In 1973 It was discovered in two external galaxies.
• formamide (4 facts) (HCONH₂) - An interstellar molecule discovered in space at a wavelength of 6.5 cm.
• formic acid (4 facts) (H₂CO₂) - The first organic acid to be detected in interstellar space at 18.3 cm. Formic acid is the "sting" of an insect.
• hydrogen cyanide (2 facts) (HCN)
• hydrogen isocyanide (2 facts) (HNC)
• hydrogen sulfide (2 facts) (H₂S)
• hydroxyl radical (4 facts) (OH) - An interstellar molecule first detected in 1963 at a wavelength of 18 cm. The four transitions that occur near 18 cm are caused by the splitting of the ground level. Galactic OH sources have been divided into three classes according to whether the OH emission is strongest in the main lines, particularly at 1665 MHz (Class 1), whether the emission and absorption are highly anomalous only in the satellite lines (Class 2) (Class 2a, 1720-line emitters; Class 2b, 1612-line emitters), or whether there is only absorption in all four lines (Class 3).
• ionized methylidyne (4 facts) (CH⁺)
• isocyanic acid (2 facts) (HNCO)
• methanimine (2 facts) (H₂CNH)
• methanol (6 facts) (CH₃OH, methyl alcohol) - More rotational lines have been observed astronomically for it than for any other molecule.
• methyl acetylene (2 facts) (CH₃C₂H)
• methyl cyanide (2 facts) (CH₃CN)
• methyl formate (2 facts) (HCOOCH₃)
• methylamine (3 facts) (CH₃NH₂) - A molecule discovered in interstellar apace in 1974, in Sgr B2, at a frequency of 87.77 GHz. Methylamine can react with formic acid to produce glycine, the simplest amino acid.
• methylidyne (2 facts) (CH)
• molecular hydrogen (2 kinds, 10 facts) (H₂) - A molecule consisting of two hydrogen atoms (H₂) and the most common molecule in space., A molecule of hydrogen, discovered in interstellar space in 1970. H₂ is a very hard molecule to detect. None of its transitions lie in the visible part of the spectrum. Second, being a symmetric homonuclear molecule, it does not have an electric-dipole rotation-vibration spectrum, and detection must be based on the weak quadrupole spectrum. Third, ultraviolet radiation is a very efficient dissociator of H₂, so any H₂ that survived would presumably be located inside very dense interstellar clouds. So far observations have borne out this supposition. Measurements of the region within about 1 kpc of the Sun suggest that H₂ is about twice as abundant as atomic H.
• molecular oxygen (4 facts) (O₂)
• silicon monosulfide (3 facts) (SiS)
• silicon monoxide (3 facts) (SiO)
• sulfur monoxide (3 facts) (SO)
• thioformaldehyde (2 facts) (H₂CS)
• water vapor (3 facts) (H₂O)

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