by Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on exciting discoveries, scientific advances and more.
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered common chemical ingredients found in vinegar, anthills and even margaritas around two young stars, according to NASA.
The complex organic molecules they observed using the space observatory’s Mid-Infrared Instrument included acetic acid, a component of vinegar, and ethanol – also known as alcohol.
The team also found simple molecules of formic acid, which causes the burning sensation associated with an ant sting, as well as sulfur dioxide, methane and formaldehyde. Scientists think that sulfur compounds such as sulfur dioxide may have played a central role on the early Earth, eventually paving the way for life.
The newly detected molecules were seen as icy compounds around IRAS 2A and IRAS 23385, which are two protostars, or stars so young that they have not yet formed planets. Stars form from swirling clouds of gas and dust, and planets are the material left over from star formation.
The protostar IRAS 23385 is estimated to be 15,981 light-years from Earth in the Milky Way, according to previous research.
The new observation tells astronomers that the molecules detected around the star could be vital ingredients for a potentially habitable world, and these ingredients could be incorporated into the planets that form around the stars. eventually.
Space is full of heavy metals and chemical elements and compounds created and released by star explosions over time. After that, the chemical elements are incorporated into clouds that form the next generation of stars and planets.
On Earth, the right combination of elements made life possible, and as the legendary astronomer Carl Sagan once said, “We’re made of star stuff.” But astronomers have long questioned how common the elements necessary for life are throughout the cosmos.
The search for complex molecules in space
Previously, scientists using Webb discovered types of ice made of different elements in a cold, dark molecular cloud, an interstellar clump of gas and dust where hydrogen and carbon monoxide molecules can form. Dense clumps within these clouds can collapse to form a proton.
By detecting complex organic molecules in space, it helps the astronomers to find the origin of the molecules as well as the origin of other larger cosmic molecules.
Scientists believe that complex organic molecules are formed by the melting of ice in space, or the process when a solid changes to a gas without first being a liquid, and the new Webb detector provides evidence for that theory.
“This result contributes to one of the long-standing questions in astrochemistry,” Will Rocha, team leader of the James Webb Observations of Young ProtoStars program and a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University in the Netherlands, said in a statement. “What is the origin of complex organic molecules, or COMs, in space? Are they made in the gas phase or in ice? The detection of COMs in ice suggests that solid-phase chemical reactions on the surfaces of cold dust grains can build complex types of molecules.”
A study detailing the new results of the probe has been accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
A quick look at the solar system
Understanding the form that complex organic molecules take can help astronomers better understand the ways in which the molecules are incorporated into planets. Complex organic molecules trapped in cold ice can become part of comets or asteroids, which collide with planets and essentially deliver ingredients that could support life.
The chemicals found around the protons may reveal the early history of our solar system, allowing astronomers to look back at what was present when the sun and the planets that orbited it, the Earth included, forming.
“All these molecules can become part of comets and asteroids and eventually new planetary systems when the icy material is transported into the planet-forming disk as the protostellar system evolves,” said study co-author Ewine van Dishoeck, professor of molecular astrophysics at Leiden. University, in a statement. “We look forward to following this astrochemical trail step by step with more Webb data in the coming years.”
The team has dedicated the results of their research to the study of co-author Harold Linnartz, who died unexpectedly in December shortly after the paper was accepted for publication.
Linnartz, who led the Leiden Laboratory for Astrophysics and coordinated measurements used in the study, was a “world leader in laboratory studies of gaseous and icy molecules in interstellar space,” according to a release from Leiden University.
He was reportedly very pleased with the data Webb was able to capture, and what the results could mean for astrochemical research.
“Harold was very happy that the COM task lab work could play an important role because he has been coming here for a long time,” said van Dishoeck.
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
