Overview
- Researchers found erythrulose in the chemically rich cloud G+0.693-0.027 near the Galactic center by using the Yebes 40‑m and IRAM 30‑m telescopes and matching 12 sets of laboratory spectra, with a 0.2% probability that the key matches were random.
- Quantum-chemical calculations and astrochemical models indicate the sugar can form on icy dust grains from two-carbon precursors such as glycolaldehyde and ethylene glycol, and that radiation or shock-driven heating can release it into the gas where telescopes detect it.
- The molecule is the largest non-cyclic species yet identified in the interstellar medium, the first with four oxygen atoms detected there, and only the second chiral molecule found between the stars.
- Erythrulose appears at least eight times more abundant than some three-carbon sugars not detected in the same survey, and the study estimates between 0.5 billion and 50 billion kilograms of the compound could have reached early Earth during the Late Heavy Bombardment under conservative assumptions.
- Authors and outside scientists say the result does not prove life began in space but strengthens the case that biologically relevant sugars can form in interstellar environments, so teams plan targeted follow-up searches for larger sugars such as ribose.