New Organic Molecule Found in Space

In more than four decades of space study, astronomers have been able to identify more than 140 different molecular substances in interstellar clouds of matter, but also in accretion disks surrounding young stars. Many of these substances fall into the 'bio'-molecule category of molecules and are mostly interstellar amino acids, which is extremely important while considering that amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, therefore they are basic substances required for the appearance of life.

Amino acids had been discovered previously in meteorites that fell on Earth, however the detection of such organic molecules in interstellar space came much later. One of the biggest structures in interstellar space, known to bear a large variety of organic molecules, is the 'Large Molecule Heimat', a dense hot cloud of gas in the Sagittarius B2 giant molecular cloud. Sagittarius B2 is located 120 parsecs from the center of the Milky Way and has a total mass of more than 3 million times that of the Sun.

Sagittarius B2 is a highly active star-forming region, containing high quantities of organic molecules both simple and complex. Amongst those, scientists found notable complex molecules such as ethyl alcohol, formaldehyde, formic acid, acetic acid, glycol aldehyde and ethylene glycol. Astronomers were hoping to find glycine as well, one of the simplest amino acids, however it remained undetected, thus they took the next logical step and started looking for its chemical related precursor, amino acetonitrile.

During the study, the Max Plank Institute for Radioastronomy used the IRAM 30 Telecope in Spain and the Australia Telescope Compact Array to make observations on the 'Large Molecule Heimat'. Each atom and molecule emits electromagnetic radiation in a specific frequency. The collected data revealed more than 3700 spectral lines associated with complex organic molecules, amongst which 51 weak spectral lines associated with the amino acetonitrile molecule.

"This result was confirmed at 10 time higher spatial resolution with two radio telescope arrays, the IRAM Plateau de Bure interferometer in France and the Australia Telescope Compact Array. These observations showed that all the candidate lines were emitted from the same position in the 'Large Molecule Heimat', a strong proof of the reliability of our identification," said Max Planck Institute researcher Arnaud Belloche.

"Finding amino acetonitrile has greatly extended our insight into the chemistry of dense, hot star-forming regions. I am sure we will be able to identify in the future many new, even more complex organic molecules in the interstellar gas," said Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy, Karl Menten.



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