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First Sugar Detected in Interstellar Space Signals Prestellar Chemistry

1 min read
Source: Gizmodo
First Sugar Detected in Interstellar Space Signals Prestellar Chemistry
Photo: Gizmodo
TL;DR

Astronomers directly detected erythrulose, a four-carbon sugar, in the Milky Way’s molecular cloud G+0.693−0.027 using Spain’s Yebes 40-meter and IRAM 30-meter telescopes. The sugar’s spectral fingerprint matched 12 lines, and erythrulose was found to be eight times more abundant than simpler sugars, revealing chemical complexity in space before stars or planets form and suggesting life-building blocks may pre-exist in star-forming clouds; researchers plan to search for larger sugars like ribose next.

Topics:top-newsspace-and-spaceflight#astrochemistry#erythrulose#interstellar-space#molecular-cloud#prebiotic-sugars#space-and-spaceflight
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  1. Astronomers Detect Sugar in Interstellar Space for the First Time  Gizmodo
  2. A Sweet Surprise: Scientists Find Sugar Deep in Our Galaxy  The New York Times
  3. In a sweet discovery, astronomers find sugar lurking in the space between stars  AP News
  4. Detection of a four-carbon sugar in interstellar space  Nature
  5. Space jam: astronomers detect ‘raspberry sugar’ on dust cloud in Milky Way  The Guardian

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