Studies have suggested that hydroxylamine (NH₂OH) should be formed under various astrophysical processing conditions, but a recent search for it by Pulliam et al. in 2012 toward a number of sources, including IRC+10216, Orion KL, Orion S, Sgr B2(N), Sgr B2(OH), W3IRS5, and W51M, was unsuccessful. Observations were made with the NRAO 12m telescope on Kitt Peak of 14 rotational transitions. A modeling study by Garrod and co-workers predicted that sufficient hydroxylamine should be produced by grain surface reactions, but upper detection limit determined by Pulliam et al. is about a million times less than the predicted abundance.

A preliminary report from 2013 suggested that hydroyxlamine had been detected toward the protostar L1157 with CARMA, but the subsequent publication by McGuire et al. only noted non-detection of multiple transitions.

UPDATE (2019): Yet another attempt to detect hydroxylamine, by Ligterink et al. reported late in 2018, failed to find the molecule toward the solar-like protostar IRAS 16293-2422B. On the basis of experiments, Jonusas & Krim observed that NH₂OH may react before it can be desorbed from the ice surfaces where it is thought to be formed.

UPDATE (2020): Hydroxylamine was finally detected in 2020 by Rivilla and co-workkers toward galactic center source G+0.693-0.027.