Organic Molecules in the Interstellar Medium, Comets, and Meteorites: A Voyage from Dark Clouds to the Early Earth

TLDR

Organic molecules evolve from molecular clouds through the interstellar medium, into comets and meteorites, and ultimately to early Earth, providing constraints on the processes that shape the origin and distribution of life in the Galaxy. This review synthesizes recent observations, laboratory experiments, and theoretical models to inventory and analyze the distribution of organic molecules across interstellar, circumstellar, cometary, and meteoritic environments. The authors employ infrared, ultraviolet, and radio spectroscopy from space and ground observatories, laboratory simulations, and theoretical modeling to constrain gas‑phase and grain‑surface formation pathways and to interpret spectroscopic signatures of organics in diffuse and dense interstellar media, comets, and meteorites.

Abstract

▪ Abstract Our understanding of the evolution of organic molecules, and their voyage from molecular clouds to the early solar system and Earth, has changed dramatically. Incorporating recent observational results from the ground and space, as well as laboratory simulation experiments and new methods for theoretical modeling, this review recapitulates the inventory and distribution of organic molecules in different environments. The evolution, survival, transport, and transformation of organics is monitored, from molecular clouds and the diffuse interstellar medium to their incorporation into solar system material such as comets and meteorites. We constrain gas phase and grain surface formation pathways to organic molecules in dense interstellar clouds, using recent observations with the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) and ground-based radiotelescopes. The main spectroscopic evidence for carbonaceous compounds in the diffuse interstellar medium is discussed (UV bump at 2200 Å, diffuse interstellar bands, extended red emission, and infrared absorption and emission bands). We critically review the signatures and unsolved problemsrelated to the main organic components suggested to be present in the diffuse gas, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), fullerenes, diamonds, and carbonaceous solids. We also briefly discuss the circumstellar formation of organics around late-typestars. In the solar system, space missions to comet Halley and observations of the bright comets Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp have recently allowed a reexamination of the organic chemistry of dust and volatiles in long-period comets. We review the advances in this area and also discuss progress being made in elucidating the complex organic inventory of carbonaceous meteorites. The knowledge of organic chemistry in molecular clouds, comets, and meteorites and their common link provides constraints for the processes that lead to the origin, evolution, and distribution of life in the Galaxy.