James Webb discovered important building blocks for habitable worlds in protostars

It's a question that has puzzled space scientists for decades: Where do complex organic molecules in space come from? James Webb unveils the veil: A space telescope has discovered that the ingredients for potentially habitable worlds are already present in the early stages of protostars.

Discovery It is not unique: decades ago it was predicted based on laboratory experiments that complex organic molecules occur in the solid phase of protostars. Other space telescopes have also found signs of this. like him Discover Webz Early version of Ice AgeProgramming different molecules into solid form in the coldest part of the molecular cloud. Under the right conditions, important building blocks of life, such as sugars and amino acids, can arise from simple molecules on icy dust particles. At a later stage of star formation, they could end up as new planets and their atmospheres.

Protostar
A protostar is a star in the process of formation. It is created when gravity begins to pull gases into the ball. Gravity heats gases, emitting radiation. He initially escapes into space. But as the protostar begins to attract matter and becomes denser, radiation becomes trapped inside, causing the protostar to continue to heat up. Eventually, it becomes so hot that the process of nuclear fusion begins and an actual star is created.

Merry
Now scientists led by astronomers from Leiden University have gone one step further. With the help of James Webb's MIRI (mid-infrared) instrument, they took a closer look at the complex organic molecules found and concluded that they were indeed present in the ice. More precisely, they found acetaldehyde (ethanal), ethanol, methyl formate, and possibly acetic acid in the solid phase. Complex organic molecules consist of at least six atoms, including at least one carbon atom.

Complex molecules in ice
Significantly, there has finally been confirmation of the existence of these molecules in protostars. It leads to new insights into old questions. “What is the origin of complex organic molecules in space? Are they made in the gas phase or in ice?” “The discovery of complex organic molecules in ice suggests that solid-phase chemical reactions on the surface of cold dust grains can build complex types of molecules.” Research leader Will Rocha of the Leiden Observatory explains in a press release.

But this discovery certainly raises as many questions as it answers. The next step is to find out to what extent complex molecules are transported to planets at later stages of protostar evolution. It is already known that molecules in ice move from A to B more efficiently than in a gas. These icy organic molecules could end up on comets and asteroids elsewhere in space.

Sulfur
Simpler molecules also appear to have formed in protostars, such as methane, sulfur dioxide, formic acid and formaldehyde. Sulfur dioxide in particular caught the attention of scientists, because they were curious about the so-called sulfur budget in protostars. This is interesting because sulfur is essential for life on Earth. All life on Earth consists of six chemical elements: oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphate. In fact, the human body consists of more than 97 percent of these elements. Sulfur is used to make two essential amino acids that make up proteins. In addition to all these molecules, negative ions were also discovered, which are part of important salts. Thus ice formation may be more complex than previously thought.

The primitive stage of the solar system
This discovery paves the way for learning more about the origins of life on Earth. In this sense, the low-mass protostar investigated, IRAS 2A, was particularly interesting. It may show similarities to the primitive phase of our solar system. It is likely that the chemicals in this protostar were already present in the early stages of our solar system and were transported to our young planet.

“All of these molecules could become part of comets, asteroids and eventually new planetary systems when icy material is transported inward into the planet-forming disks,” said researcher Ewen van Dischock. “We look forward to following this astrochemical path step by step in the coming years, with new Webb data.”