Chemistry in Space

Description

This volume contains the lectures presented at the first course of the Inter­ national School of Space Chemistry held in Erice (Sicily) from May 10 to May 20 at the 'E. Majorana Centre for Scientific Culture'. The course was attended by 57 participants from 11 countries. The recognition by Professor A. Zichichi that space chemistry is one of the important and rapidly growing scientific disciplines with many and varied appli­ cations provided the stimulation to initiate this new school. Historically, the study of chemistry in space had its major origins in comets, the solar nebula and circumstellar envelopes before the interstellar medium achieved its current prominence. A remarkably rapid development in interstellar chemistry was precipitated by the discovery of formaldehyde in the late 1960's made possible by the new radio observational techniques. A four atom molecule in interstellar space was indeed a surprise considering that only a short time ear­ lier there were still arguments about the existence of the simplest of all molecules - the hydrogen molecule. The application of ion-molecule reactions to interstellar cloud chemistry provided a rich variety of new possibilities which were, however, continuously under pressure to keep pace with radio-astronomical discoveries of more and more complex molecules. Front Matter....Pages i-xviii Chemical Enrichment of the Interstellar Medium....Pages 1-41 A Brief Introduction to the Cosmic Radiation....Pages 43-69 Interstellar Chemistry....Pages 71-87 The Molecular Composition of Dense Interstellar Clouds....Pages 89-121 Molecular Clouds in Regions of Massive Star Formation....Pages 123-170 Circumstellar Chemistry....Pages 171-197 The Chemistry of Supernova 1987A....Pages 199-209 Small Grains and Large Aromatic Molecules....Pages 211-225 Physical, Chemical and Optical Interactions with Interstellar Dust....Pages 227-261 Physical and Chemical Effects Induced by Fast Ions in Ices of Astrophysical Interest....Pages 263-303 Chemical Analyses with the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO)....Pages 305-319 Chemistry of the Solar Nebula....Pages 321-338 The Volatile Composition of Comets Deduced from Ultraviolet Spectroscopy....Pages 339-361 From Interstellar Dust to Comets to Comet Dust: A Test of the Interstellar Dust Model of Comets....Pages 363-382 Features of Experimental Studying of Comet Halley Dust Particles Elemental Composition....Pages 383-397 Chemical Composition of Halley’s Dust Component from the PUMA-2 Data....Pages 399-414 Front Matter....Pages 415-415 Heavy Metal Abundances in Nova Ejecta Revealed by Infrared Coronal Emission Lines....Pages 417-418 Impulsive Model of Collisions....Pages 419-420 Adiabatic Approximations for Molecules In Magnetic Fields....Pages 421-422 The Calculation of RO-Vibrational Molecular Spectra From First Principles....Pages 423-424 Front Matter....Pages 415-415 Irradiation Parameters in Cosmic Chemistry....Pages 425-426 Cosmic-Ray-Induced Photons: Are They Really Important?....Pages 427-431 Ion-Molecule Reactions at Dense Interstellar Cloud Temperatures: The Cresus Apparatus....Pages 433-434 Interstellar H 2 S: Probe of Grain Surface Chemistry....Pages 435-436 Results of a Galactic Survey for the Ring Molecule Cyclopropenylidene (C 3 H 2 )....Pages 437-438 Possible Assignment of the 11.3 μm UIR Feature to Emission from Soot-Like Microparticles with Internal Hydrogens....Pages 439-441 Spectroscopic Studies of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) and PAH Mixtures in the Infrared and Visible....Pages 443-444 Very Small Particles in the Interstellar Medium....Pages 445-446 The Effect of the Choice of the Grain Model on the H 2 ,Production by Cosmic Rays in Dense Clouds....Pages 447-449 Chemical Enrichment of the Halo by Dust Expulsion....Pages 451-453 Astromacromolecules: Formation of Very Large Molecules in Interstellar Space....Pages 455-457 Small-Size Dust Particles Near Halley’s Comet....Pages 459-460 The Possibility of Formation of Layer Silicates in Halley’s Comet Nucleus....Pages 461-462 Back Matter....Pages 463-467