this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2026
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Scientists spot sugar in interstellar space for the first time ever (www.scientificamerican.com)
submitted 1 day ago by solo@slrpnk.net to c/space@mander.xyz
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Erythrulose, a sugar found in raspberries, kiwis and many red fruits, also apparently exists in a giant molecular cloud of gas and dust near the center of our galaxy, some 26,745 light-years from Earth. This marks the first time a sugar has been seen in interstellar space. The results have been published in Nature Astronomy

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[–] SillyDude@lemmy.zip 17 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

The dust that pervades the cloud’s cold, dark depths is key. Dust offers surfaces for atoms and molecules to glom onto, allowing them to become larger and more complex; it also blocks ultraviolet radiation and other high-energy light that could otherwise tear apart bigger compounds as they grow. Deeper in the clouds, more dust blocks more radiation, temperatures drop, and water and carbon dioxide ices coat the dust grains, along with molecules of increasing complexity.