Faraday Discussion — Astrochemistry at high resolution

The aim of this meeting is to bring together researchers from astronomy, gas-phase, solid state and surface physics, and chemistry communities to address the wide-ranging roles of chemistry in astronomy in the light of the wealth of observational detail becoming available in this era of high resolution astrochemistry. Our window on the universe is being opened more widely as new observational platforms are developed that will overcome the limitations of resources currently available to astronomers. Together we will address the role of chemical spectroscopy in identifying chemical species and probing their environments; we will attempt to understand the interplay of gas-phase, surface, solid state and photochemically-induced processes that drive the chemical evolution of our Galaxy and others; how this chemical evolution is intimately involved in controlling the process of star and planet formation; and how chemistry brings us to the edge of biology.