Found in the Chamaeleon cloud
illustration of Starbirth Nursery (nasa.gov)
Signs of life in outer space are one of the most sought-after aspects by astronomers. One way they do this is by evaluating the images collected by space telescopes.
Recently, researchers discovered the ‘ingredients’ of life in ice clouds captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The findings are published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
1. Discovered prebiotic molecules
When researchers examined Chamaeleon I’s cloud, they revealed an amazing collection of ice molecules hidden within the cloud. Surprisingly, this is no ordinary collection of ice molecules.
These molecules are a type of interstellar brick that will one day melt into the next generation of stars, planets, and other celestial bodies. In other words, they would potentially be the start of life.
JWST was able to detect evidence of what are known as “prebiotic molecules” in the cloud. In these chunks of ice are frozen carbon dioxide, ammonia, and water.
“Our identification of complex organic molecules, such as methanol and potentially ethanol, also suggests that many star and planetary systems that developed in this particular cloud would inherit molecules in fairly advanced chemical states,” said Will Rocha, an astronomer at the Leiden Observatory who worked on the study. as well as in these findings in a release.
