Radio telescopes such as ALMA, located in the Atacama Desert in Chile, enable mapping molecules in star-forming clouds, revealing information such as temperature, chemical abundance and clues about hidden processes that shape star formation in distant regions of the universe.
Astronomers cannot reproduce in the laboratory the signals emitted by molecules from star-forming regions, which is why they need to study these signals indirectly through instruments specially designed to capture different types of radiation.
Light is the best tool for this task, not only the visible light that we can see with the naked eye, but also other types such as radio waves, specifically in the millimeter and submillimeter frequency ranges, which are emitted by the gas and dust present in these cosmic regions.
Each molecule has characteristic energy transitions and, when rotating or changing state, emits signals that function as a unique signature, allowing scientists to identify their chemical composition and better understand the processes of star formation.
