Burning acid detected behind ant bites around two stars

(CNN) — Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered common chemical components found in vinegar, ant stings and even daisies around two young stars, NASA reported.

The complex organic molecules they observed using the space observatory's mid-infrared instrument included acetic acid, a component of vinegar, and ethanol, also known as alcohol.

The team also found individual molecules of formic acid, which causes the burning sensation associated with ant bites, as well as sulfur dioxide, methane and formaldehyde. Scientists believe that sulfur compounds such as sulfur dioxide could have played a key role in the early Earth, eventually paving the way for life to form.

The newly discovered particles were observed as icy compounds around IRAS 2A and IRAS 23385, two protostars, or stars so young that they have not yet formed planets. the Stars form from rotating clouds of gas and dustMaterial left over from star formation gives rise to planets.

The protostar IRAS 23385 is estimated to be located 15,981 light-years from Earth in the Milky Way, according to previous research.

The new observation interests astronomers because molecules detected around stars could be crucial components of potentially habitable worlds, and these components could be incorporated into planets that are likely to eventually form around stars.

Space is full of heavy metals, elements and chemical compounds created and released by stellar explosions over time. In turn, chemical elements are incorporated into the clouds that form the next generation of stars.

On Earth, the right combination of elements allowed life to form, and as the famous astronomer Carl Sagan once said: “We are made of star stuff.” But astronomers have long wondered how common the elements necessary for life are throughout the universe.

Searching for complex molecules in space

Previously, scientists using Webb discovered types of ice made of different elements in a cold, dark molecular cloud, an interstellar mass of gas and dust where hydrogen and carbon monoxide molecules can form. Dense clumps within these clouds can collapse to form protostars.

Detecting complex organic molecules in space helps astronomers determine the origins of molecules, as well as the origins of other larger cosmic molecules.

Scientists believe complex organic molecules are created by the sublimation of ice in space, or the process in which a solid changes into a gas without first becoming a liquid, and Webb's new discovery provides evidence of this theory.

“This discovery contributes to one of the long-standing questions in astrochemistry,” Will Rocha, team leader of the James Webb Young Protostar Program and a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University in the Netherlands, said in a statement. “What is the origin of complex organic molecules, or COM, in space? Are they made in the gas phase or in ice? The discovery of COM in ice suggests that chemical reactions in the solid phase on the surfaces of cold dust grains can build complex types of molecules.”

A study detailing the new findings of protostars has been accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

A look at the early solar system

Understanding the form that complex organic molecules take can help astronomers better understand the ways in which molecules are incorporated into planets. Complex organic molecules trapped in the cold ice could eventually become part of comets or asteroids, which collide with planets and essentially provide the ingredients that can sustain life.

Chemicals found around protostars may reflect the early history of our solar system, allowing astronomers to observe what was there when the Sun and the planets orbiting it, including Earth, were forming.

“All of these molecules could become part of comets, asteroids and eventually new planetary systems when icy material is transported into the planet-forming disk as the star system evolves,” said study co-author Ewen van Dischock, professor of molecular astrophysics at Leiden. The university said in a statement. “We hope to follow this astrochemical path step by step with more data from Webb in the coming years.”

The team dedicated their research findings to the study of co-author Harold Lennartz, who died unexpectedly in December shortly after the paper was accepted for publication.

Lennartz, who led the Leiden Astrophysics Laboratory and coordinated the measurements used in the study, was “a world leader in laboratory studies of gaseous and icy particles in interstellar space,” according to a statement from Leiden University.

He was reportedly pleased with the data Webb was able to capture and what the results could mean for astrochemical research.

“Harold was particularly pleased that laboratory work on COM missions could play an important role, as it has been a long road to get here,” Van Dyschock said.