Discovery Of Sugar In Space

One of the most important discoveries of this decade include the discovery of sugar in space. Scientists have recently spotted floating molecules of simple sugar in space. Presence of sugar is sometimes and somewhat related to the presence of organic compounds like carbohydrates. These molecules were identified floating in a gas around a star about 400 light years away. Scientists have been searching for any indication of the presence of life on other planets which like earth are revolving around their stars, very similar to our solar system.
 

           A fine artistic display of simple sugar molecules. Photo courtesy by National geographic.

 Nature of the identified sugar

 “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,” said Dr Jes Jørgensen of Niels Bohr Institute, Denmark, lead author of a paper to be published in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters (arXiv.org version).

Scientist use term sugar for carbohydrates which are composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Carbohydrates are the essential components of living organisms. The molecules of sugar that scientists discovered are the simplest form of sugar called glycoaldehyde. Glycoaldehyde is found on earth in the form of odourless white powder. Scientists think that glycoaldehyde is involed in the reaction which forms the essential biological component-the RNA. According to the lead astronomer Jes Jørgensen of Denmark's Copenhagen University It's still unclear exactly how glycoaldehyde is produced in space, but observations suggest it forms on ice-covered dust grains in the dense, cold parts of interstellar molecular clouds.

The star

The star involved in the discovery is a young star named as IRAS 16293-2422. The star has a smaller mass as compared to the sun and found in the constellation of Ophiuchus some 400 light years away from our planet. Being comparatively the nearest star, IRAS offers scientists a great opportunity to conduct a deep and detailed study of a newly formed star.

More about the discovery 

• According to some scientists the discovery of sugar in space may open new paths for the race of finding life on other planets in space.
• This is for the first time that sugar molecules are discovered in space.
• “What it is really exciting about our findings is that the ALMA observations reveal that the sugar molecules are falling in towards one of the stars of the system,” said co-author Dr Cécile Favre of the Aarhus University, Denmark.

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