14 DAY TRIAL // A group of scientists successfully identified naphthalene, one of the most complex molecules ever found in the outer space, which could indicate that other prebiotic chemical components involved in the appearance of life on Earth may have been present in the matter that formed the solar system.
The group of researchers, comprised of Susana Iglesias Groth, Aníbal García, and Arturo Manchado from IAC (Instituto Astrofísica de Canarias), with the help of David Lambert (University of Texas) and Jonay González (Paris Observatory), uncovered the presence of naphthalene in a zone of star formation, in the Perseus constellation, towards the Cernis 52 star. They concluded that it was naphthalene after their laboratory measurements on the naphthalene cation proved similar to the spectral bands recorded in the Perseus constellation.
One of the IAC experts, Susana Iglesias Groth, states: "We have detected the presence of the naphthalene cation in a cloud of interstellar matter located 700 lightyears from the Earth," while another one, Iglesias Groth, hopes: "We aim to investigate whether other, more complex, hydrocarbons exist in the same region, including aminoacids." Together with water and ammonium, as well as ultraviolet radiation, naphthalene is one of the key factors that developed life on our planet. Previous speculations on this event were based on the fact that naphthalene was abundant in meteorites that used to crash in greater number on Earth's surface in the ages when life was not yet present.
This recent discovery is crucial in understanding one of the most puzzling difficulties in the field of interstellar spectroscopy: the identification of the agent that determined the existence of the hundreds of spectroscopic "diffuse bands" associated with the interstellar matter. As Iglesias Groth added, "Our results show that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons such as naphthalene are responsible for the diffuse bands and should be present throughout the interstellar medium."