Molecular Astrophysics: An Integral Part of Astronomy

Abstract

In 1986, Dalgarno wrote a paper with the provocative title ‘Is interstellar chemistry useful?’.The purpose of this brief review is to show that this question can now indeed be answered with a resounding ‘yes!’. Observations of molecules, both in the gas and in the solid phase, have become an integral part of astronomy and are now routinely used to probe the formation of the earliest stars and galaxies in the distant universe; to determine the mass and kinematics of dense gas in starbursts and AGN’s; to make an inventory of molecular clouds and star-forming sites throughout our Galaxy and nearby galaxies; to study the detailed physics, chemistry and dynamics of star- and planet-forming regions in our solar neighborhood; to investigate the fate of dying stars and their mass return to the interstellar medium; and to search for complex organic, perhaps even prebiotic, molecules.