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Life’s Building Blocks in Nearby Galaxy
November 8 , 2025
15 hrs 0 min
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- Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers detected five complex organic molecules - methanol, acetaldehyde, ethanol, methyl formate, and acetic acid.
- These molecules were found around a protostar called ST6 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), 160,000 light-years away.
- Acetic acid was detected in space for the first time, while methanol was previously known.
- Tentative signs of glycolaldehyde, a sugar precursor for RNA, were also observed.
- The LMC’s metal-poor environment mirrors early universe conditions, showing that dust grains can spark complex chemistry even with few heavy elements.
- These findings provide insights into how life’s building blocks may have formed in the early universe.
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