Compared to deeper cosmological mysteries like the identity of dark matter and dark energy, or what’s going on inside black holes, there are other unknowns that appear more mundane, their solutions seemingly within reach. But, despite appearing to be a tractable problem, one mystery has managed to persist for the almost the entirety of the past century, making it one of the longest-standing problems in astronomy.
About a century ago, researchers observed the telltale signs of absorption of light by unknown molecules that reside in the thinly spread material in the space between stars (the interstellar medium). The gas and dust of the interstellar medium absorbs certain wavelengths of light, preventing those wavelengths from arriving here and leaving gaps (or lines) in the spectrum we record when we look at other stars.
Researchers can find out what substance, or "carrier," is responsible for the lines by identifying molecules that absorb the specific wavelengths that are missing from the observed spectrum. Combining this lab research with theoretical modeling and more astronomical observations has allowed us to figure out what’s lurking in interstellar space.
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