Observing Molecules with Radio Telescopes

More and more radio telescopes are moving to a model of facility-driven observations. Proposers are not expected to be ’black belt’ radio astronomers, merely to propose feasible observations with good science. Yet, planning and analyzing these observations still requires foundational knowledge of how to treat molecular signals. Most astronomy graduate curricula include only a brief mention of these skills, and many astronomers find themselves unprepared to propose observations of molecular lines that could otherwise be extraordinarily useful for their science. What’s more, the resources that are available are typically extremely low-level, providing nitty gritty details and equations, but little practical advice. There is a glaring need for a practical, step-by-step guide of how to consider, plan, execute, and analyze observations that does not get bogged down in the underlying details.

This book serves as a practical handbook for observing molecules in space using radio astronomy. It begins with an accessible discussion of the underlying physics and (quantum) chemistry of how molecular signals are generated. It then turns to discussions of how those signals are measured with radio astronomy, followed by detailed, practical examples of how to predict the molecular signals an observation will detect and how to design observations and proposals based on those predictions. This includes descriptions of how spectra are measured in the laboratory, disseminated in the literature, and made available in databases and how to access and extract information from these sources. The book then turns to analyzing the observations, and how to extract information on the molecule and physical conditions. The tone is conversational and approachable, minimizing jargon whenever possible.