First Sugar Detected in Interstellar Space Signals Prestellar Chemistry
TL;DR Summary
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-news#astrochemistry#erythrulose#interstellar-space#molecular-cloud#prebiotic-sugars#space-and-spaceflight
- Astronomers Detect Sugar in Interstellar Space for the First Time Gizmodo
- A Sweet Surprise: Scientists Find Sugar Deep in Our Galaxy The New York Times
- In a sweet discovery, astronomers find sugar lurking in the space between stars AP News
- Detection of a four-carbon sugar in interstellar space Nature
- Space jam: astronomers detect ‘raspberry sugar’ on dust cloud in Milky Way The Guardian
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