Text written in Basque and translated automatically by Elia without any subsequent editing. SEE ORIGINAL

A molecule of sugar has been found in the interstellar field

Erythrulose sugar has been found in the dust grains of the interstellar region and has been found to be naturally occurring.

It is the first time a sugar molecule has been found in the interstellar region. The data were collected in the center of the Milky Way, at a distance of about 26,700 light-years from Earth. The discovery was published in Nature Astronomy.

For this international study, led by the Center for Astrobiology located in Torrejón de Ardoz, the radio telescopes Yebes and IRAM, located in Guadalajara and Granada, respectively, were used. These telescopes were able to perform a spectral study with the information collected.

The sugar found is erythrulose, an organic molecule of four carbons. On the ground, it appears mainly in the red berries, such as the red blackberries. According to the models they have created, erythrulose is efficiently produced in the dust grains of the interstellar region from simpler two-carbon molecules.

“To say that this molecule can be related to the origin of life can be to extrapolate more.”

Sugars are essential organic molecules for life on Earth. We use them as fuel, as energy storage, and they are necessary, among other things, in the structure of genetic material. In the study of the creation of life, one of the main questions is to clarify how sugars were created.

In meteorites, sugar molecules such as ribose and glucose have previously been identified, as well as in the asteroid Bennu. In contrast, in the interstellar region, although 340 different molecules were identified, there were technical difficulties in verifying the presence of sugars.

According to experts, this discovery, although it may lead to extrapolations and exaggerated conclusions about the origin of life, shows two clear ideas: first, that sugars can be produced in natural conditions in space, and second, that it is possible that these sugars produced in the interstellar zone, stored and protected in ice, can reach areas where life could be created, as on Earth. However, with the information we have today, it is only a hypothesis.