science news Outer Space Just Got a Little Bit Sweeter Amiya Ahmed
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t’s 7:30 a.m., before work, and you’re looking for something to sweeten your coffee to get through the day ahead of you. Would you ever imagine that you could find that spoonful of sugar in space? Last August, Danish and American scientists discovered molecular glycoaldehyde, a type of sugar, orbiting a young star similar to our own Sun. However, unlike our Sun, this star, known as IRAS 16293-2422, is part of a binary (or two-star) system. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), a radio telescope located in northern Chile, astronomers determined that the sugar around this star is 400 light-years away in the constellation of Ophiuchus. In deep space, molecules sometimes evaporate into a gas from the heat of a star and emit radiation. Scientists can use these radio frequencies to determine the existence of microscopic molecules over 1.85 billion miles away. These findings mean more than just the discovery of a tasty treat. The presence of this simple sugar may illuminate some answers about prebiotic chemistry, primarily how the ingredients of life could spontaneously form in deep space. While glycoaldehyde has been previously discovered in space, this is the first time it has been detected so close to a star similar to the Sun. In fact, the sugar is approximately the same distance from its star as Uranus is from the Sun in our solar system. While glycoaldehyde is similar in its molecular structure to the sugar we put in coffee, it is also one of the building blocks in the formation of nucleic acids – DNA and RNA – that contain genetic information. Glycoaldehyde can react with the molecule acrolein to form ribose, a major component of RNA, which is necessary for the origin of life. At that distance from a star, the sugar is in the right place for the spontaneous generation of more complex molecules. Scientists hypothesize that the evolution of life on early Earth occurred through spontaneous chemical reactions, which allowed for the formation of the primary building blocks of life. While many reactions on Earth occur in aqueous solutions, molecules in outer space appear to form on the surface of cosmic dust particles. A subsequent shock wave provides the energy necessary for the simple molecules to spontaneously assemble into more complex molecules. Many astronomers question what degree of complexity these molecules can achieve before being integrated into new planets. It is theorized that when comets
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glycoaldehyde molecules crash into planets, these complex molecules release the catalytic energy necessary for the formation of biotic life. While scientists still disagree on how life originated, these sweet findings may have brought us one step closer to determining the mysteries of prebiotic life. In addition, we are also closer to discovering if life may exist somewhere in the far reaches of space. Sources Space sugar discovered in gas around young sun-like star. (2012, August 29). NBC News. Retrieved from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48829061/ns/ technology_and_science-space/#.UInXN7Q1alL SPACE.com Staff. Space Sugar Discovered Around Sun-Like Star. (2012, Aug. 29). SPACE.com.” Retrieved from http://www.space. com/17345-sugar-molecules-discovered-young-star.html Than, K. (2012, August 29). Sugar found in space: A sign of life? National Geographic News. Retrieved from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/08/ 120829-sugar-space-planets-science-life/