Project Website http://www.haystack.mit.edu/ast/science/formation/index.html
Radio astronomers probe the interstellar medium (ISM) by observing molecular “signatures” that pro-vide information about the temperatures, densities, chemical compositions, and velocities of the gases surrounding stars. Star-forming regions are dense with molecular clouds that gravitationally coalesce into hot, young stellar newborns. Sci-entists at Haystack use single-dish radio astronomy to observe molecules such as methanol (CH3OH) in large regions con-taining numerous new stars.
VLBI techniques allow very high-resolution observations of emission from molecules such as silicon monoxide (SiO). These come in the form of masers—regions of gas and dust that send out laser-like beams of microwave radiation towards Earth. Masers can trace the velocities of outflows emanating from young protostars buried in opaque molecular clouds such as those in the Orion nebula.