NASA’s largest telescope detects a molecule essential for life for the first time

NASA telescope discovers molecule essential for life

James Webb, and NASA’s telescope, which is also the largest and most expensive ever produced, detected carbon, an essential molecule for life, for the first time in space. Scientists using @NASAWebb have discovered an important carbon compound in space for the first time. Known as a methyl cation, it is believed to help build more complex carbon molecules – the basis of all known life,” the company wrote on its social networks on Monday, the 26th. Methyl (CH3+) was discovered in a young star system located about 1,350 years away. Photosynthesis in the Orion Nebula. Carbon compounds were the basis of all known life. That The discovery helps scientists work to understand how life evolved on Earth And how can it evolve elsewhere in the universe. “This discovery not only underscores Webb’s amazing sensitivity, but also the putative centrality of CH 3+ to interstellar chemistry,” said Marie-Alain Martin-Drumel of Université Paris-Saclay in France, a member of the science team. .

The methyl cation was discovered in a young star system with a protoplanetary disk known as D203-506. A protoplanetary disk is a circular, stellar disk-like structure of dense gas surrounding a young, newly formed star that is generating new planets. For scientists, this discovery and the presence of the molecule at that point can be explained by the large amount of ultraviolet radiation emitted by other stars, which are bombarded by the system. What is surprising to scientists is that ultraviolet radiation is expected to destroy complex organic molecules, and this did not happen. This makes the team believe that radiation could provide the energy source needed to form CH 3+. The researchers also note that the particles seen in D203-506 are very different from typical protoplanetary disks. In particular, they failed to detect any signs of water. This clearly shows that ultraviolet radiation can completely alter the chemistry of the protoplanetary disk. In fact, it may play a crucial role in the early chemical stages of life’s origins,” explained Olivier Bernet of the French National Center for Scientific Research in Toulouse, lead author of the study.