• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Newly Spotted Complex Molecule Is Among The Largest Ever Discovered Outside The Solar System

May 3, 2024 by Deborah Bloomfield

Astronomers have discovered a complex molecule in a star-forming region known as the Cat’s Paw Nebula. The molecule in question is 2-methoxyethanol which on Earth is a pretty toxic chemical solvent, dangerous to health even in small doses. But in space, it might be crucial to the formation of stars and planets.

Advertisement

It is among the largest molecules ever discovered in interstellar space. It has 13 atoms – three carbon, eight hydrogen, and two oxygen. Only six other chemical species detected outside the solar system have more atoms than that. Many different molecules have been found in this nebula, suggesting that the complex chemistry at play might be important in the birth of new stars.

Advertisement

Finding the molecule was far from easy. Researchers can observe the signs of molecules by studying the light of gas clouds. Molecules in space absorb some stray starlight and they begin to rotate thanks to the energy they get from the light. So molecules have a spectral signature, like a barcode, that allows them to be recognized – but only if you have studied them in the lab first.

Researchers used a machine learning model to work out what would be a good molecule to hunt for, and 2-methoxyethanol came out as a good target. The international team studied what this molecule’s signature would be like in the lab and then used the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) to look at two star-forming regions. They found that signature in a protocluster in the Cat’s Paw Nebula, NGC 6334I. The number of lines found allowed them to feel confident that this was truly a detection.

“Ultimately, we observed 25 rotational lines of 2-methoxyethanol that lined up with the molecular signal observed toward NGC 6334I (the barcode matched!), thus resulting in a secure detection of 2-methoxyethanol in this source,” lead author Zachary T.P. Fried, a graduate researcher from MIT, said in a statement. “This allowed us to then derive physical parameters of the molecule toward NGC 6334I, such as its abundance and excitation temperature. It also enabled an investigation of the possible chemical formation pathways from known interstellar precursors.”

“There are a number of ‘methoxy’ molecules in space, like dimethyl ether, methoxymethanol, ethyl methyl ether, and methyl formate, but 2-methoxyethanol would be the largest and most complex ever seen,” added Fried.

Advertisement

The team proposed different mechanisms for how this molecule might form in deep space. Interstellar space has some intriguing molecules, some of which are important precursors to the chemistry of life. Even toxic substances like 2-methoxyethanol can provide insights into how we came to be.

“Continued observations of large molecules and subsequent derivations of their abundances allows us to advance our knowledge of how efficiently large molecules can form and by which specific reactions they may be produced,” added Fried.

“Additionally, since we detected this molecule in NGC 6334I but not in IRAS 16293-2422B, we were presented with a unique opportunity to look into how the differing physical conditions of these two sources may be affecting the chemistry that can occur.”

A paper describing the discovery is published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Michigan State Police to begin testing Ford Mach-E Interceptors
  2. Golf-Willett leads heading into final round of Alfred Dunhill Links Championship
  3. Surprise! First Wild Bison Calf Born In UK For Thousands Of Years
  4. British People Sound Smarter Than Americans, Right?

Source Link: Newly Spotted Complex Molecule Is Among The Largest Ever Discovered Outside The Solar System

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • Polar Vortex Patterns Explain Winter Cold Snaps Against Background Warming Trend
  • Scientists Tracked An Olm For 2,569 Days And It Did Not Move An Inch
  • Look Out For “Fireballs”: The Best Meteor Shower Of 2025 Is About To Commence, According To NASA
  • Why Do Many Large Language Models Give The Same Answer To This “Random” Number Query?
  • Adidas Jabulani: The World Cup Football So Bad NASA Decided To Study It
  • Beluga Whales Shake Their Blob-Like Melons To Say Hello And Even Woo A Mate, But How?
  • Gravitational Wave Detected From Largest Black Hole Merger Yet: “It Presents A Real Challenge To Our Understanding Of Black Hole Formation”
  • At Over 100 Years Of Age, The World’s Oldest Elephant Passes Away In India
  • Ancient Human DNA Reveals Earliest Zoonotic Diseases Appeared 6,500 Years Ago
  • Boys Are Better At Math? That Could Be Because School Favors Them Over Girls
  • Looptail G: Most People Can’t Recognize A Letter You Have Seen Millions Of Times
  • 24-Million-Year-Old Protein Fragments Are Oldest Ever Recovered, A Robot Listened To Spoken Instructions And Performed Surgery, And Much More This Week
  • DNA From Greenland Sled Dogs – Maybe The World’s Oldest Breed – Reveals 1,000 Years Of Arctic History
  • Why Doesn’t Moonrise Shift By The Same Amount Each Night?
  • Moa De-Extinction, Fashionable Chimps, And Robot Surgery – No Human Required
  • “Human”: Powerful New Images Mark The Most Scientifically Accurate “Hyper-Real 3D Models Of Human Species Ever”
  • Did We Accidentally Leave Life On The Moon In 2019 – And Could We Revive It?
  • 1.8 Million Years Ago, Two Extinct Humans Had One Of The Gnarliest Deaths In History
  • “Powerful Image” Of One Of The World’s Rarest Tigers Exposes The Real Danger In Taman Negara
  • Evolution, Domestication, And A Lot Of Very Good Boys: How Wolves Became Dogs
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version