Editing Interstellar cloud (section)

==Unexpected chemicals detected in interstellar clouds==
[[File:Diving into the Lagoon Nebula.OGG|thumb|View inside the [[Lagoon Nebula]].]]
Until recently,{{When|reason="Recently" as of when?|date=February 2024}} the rates of reactions in interstellar clouds were expected to be very slow, with minimal products being produced due to the low temperature and density of the clouds. However, [[Organic compound|organic molecule]]s were observed in the spectra that [[scientist]]s would not have expected to find under these conditions, such as [[formaldehyde]], [[methanol]], and [[vinyl alcohol]]. The reactions needed to create such substances are familiar to scientists only at the much higher temperatures and pressures of earth and earth-based laboratories. The fact that they were found indicates that these [[chemical reaction]]s in interstellar clouds take place faster than suspected, likely in gas-phase reactions unfamiliar to organic chemistry as observed on earth.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nrao.edu/pr/2001/vinylalco/|title=Scientists Toast the Discovery of Vinyl Alcohol in Interstellar Space|date= October 2001|author=Charles Blue|publisher=[[National Radio Astronomy Observatory]]|access-date=9 February 2010}}</ref> These reactions are studied in the [[CRESU experiment]].

Interstellar clouds also provide a medium to study the presence and proportions of metals in space.  The presence and ratios of these elements may help develop theories on the means of their production, especially when their proportions are inconsistent with those expected to arise from stars as a result of [[Nucleosynthesis|fusion]] and thereby suggest alternate means, such as [[cosmic ray spallation]].<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Knauth | first1 = D. | last2 = Federman | first2 = S. | last3 = Lambert | first3 = D. | year = 2000 | title = Newly Synthesized Lithium in the Interstellar Medium | journal = Nature | volume = 405 | issue = 6787| pages = 656–658 | doi=10.1038/35015028 | pmid=10864316|bibcode = 2000Natur.405..656K | s2cid = 4397202 }}</ref>