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For the first one In the past, astronomers have found a molecule of sugar floating among the clouds of air star space.
Erythrulose has four carbon atoms, and on Earth, it occurs naturally in some fruits. Its existence 26,000 light-years away may help solve the mystery of the beginning of life on our planet.
The study was published this week in the Nature Astronomy. The team, led by Izaskun Jiménez Serra, analyzed data taken by radio telescopes in Spain to detect molecular signatures in the microwave frequencies they produce as they orbit.
Sugar molecules are necessities of life. Produces cells and is part of RNA and DNA. However, scientists still do not know how they accumulated so much on the early Earth. One possibility is that some molecules did not originate on Earth but arrived on Earth via a meteorite.
In the new study, the researchers focused on the molecular cloud G+0.693−0.027, an area they did not choose at random. G+0.693−0.027 is among the heaviest regions in all molecules. Milky Way. It is close to a black hole In the center of the galaxy, and a collision with another cloud seems to have turned this region into a veritable chemical factory. Researchers had already discovered alcohol, aldehydes, urea, ethanolamine, hydroxylamine, and many other complex molecules. Now, sugar is in the mix.
The idea that some sugars may have come from space gained momentum in December 2025, when scientists confirmed that asteroid Bennu contains ribose and other monosaccharides. Ribose is an essential sugar in RNA. New research shows another type of space sugar, this one from the ketose family. On Earth, it is found in coloring oils and raspberries.
The data came from two radio telescopes located in Spain. One is at the Yebes Observatory, northeast of Madrid, while the other is at the Institute for Radio Astronomy at the Millimeter Range, which is located near a sports center in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
“The presence of several prebiotic organic molecules in meteorites and asteroids is well known, including monosaccharides, but their origin is not well known,” Jesús R. Flores, a professor at the University of Vigo who did not participate in the study, said. Science Media Center Spain. “One obvious possibility is that, in the first place, they are formed in what is known as the interstellar medium.” However, until now, no specific saccharide has been found there. Erythrulose, a four-carbon ketomonosaccharide, is the first.
