A team of
astronomers has found molecules of glycolaldehyde — a simple form of
sugar — in the gas surrounding a young binary star. This image shows the
Rho Ophiuchi star-forming region in infrared light, as seen by NASA’s
Wide-field Infrared Explorer (WISE). IRAS 16293-2422 is the red object
in the centre of the small square. The inset image is an artist’s
impression of glycolaldehyde molecules, showing glycolaldehyde’s
molecular structure (C2H4O2). Carbon atoms are shown as grey, oxygen
atoms as red, and hydrogen atoms as white. (Credit: ALMA
(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/L. Calçada (ESO) & NASA/JPL-Caltech/WISE Team)
A team of astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter
Array (ALMA) has spotted sugar molecules in the gas surrounding a young
Sun-like star. This is the first time sugar been found in space around
such a star, and the discovery shows that the building blocks of life
are in the right place, at the right time, to be included in planets
forming around the star.
The astronomers found molecules of glycolaldehyde -- a simple form of
sugar [1] -- in the gas surrounding a young binary star, with similar
mass to the Sun, called IRAS 16293-2422. Glycolaldehyde has been seen in
interstellar space before [2], but this is the first time it has been
found so near to a Sun-like star, at distances comparable to the
distance of Uranus from the Sun in the Solar System. This discovery
shows that some of the chemical compounds needed for life existed in
this system at the time of planet formation [3].
"In the disc of gas and dust surrounding this newly formed star, we
found glycolaldehyde, which is a simple form of sugar, not much
different to the sugar we put in coffee," explains Jes Jørgensen (Niels
Bohr Institute, Denmark), the lead author of the paper. "This molecule
is one of the ingredients in the formation of RNA, which -- like DNA, to
which it is related -- is one of the building blocks of life."
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