Learn about the mind-bending details of how complex carbon molecules form in the vast, cold universe – and why this may not be everybody’s cup of cosmic tea.
A Universe of Possibilities
For decades, scientists thought complex organic molecules — the building blocks of life on Earth — existed mostly in the cosy confines of our planet. How could such complex structures possibly form in the hostile climes of deep space, some thought, face success only in dreams?
But little did we know that soon this assumption was going to break. In more recent discoveries, it turns out that the cosmos is brimming with a cacophony of intricate, carbon-based molecules radically redefining what we thought mechanisms for life could look like and how chemically diverse we should expect space to be across the expanse of time and space.
Find out the history in the latest episode from Reactions: only weeks since these discoveries were announced, we recapitulate what was groundbreaking about them. What if we found out that the intricate chemistry that we assumed was unique to our home planet is something that plays out amongst the icy, black reaches of space? This discovery might revolutionize the textbooks and step in its own right into a new chapter as this could define a new era for how we look at the chemical evolution of the universe, the one upon which even life itself is built.
Unlocking the Secrets of Cosmic Chemistry
That mystery track led researchers to search for aromatic compounds within vast stretches of space between stars—collectively called the interstellar medium—and they repeated this work using ground-based telescopes, now over 40 years ago. Such complex molecular structures once thought to be unique to the chemistry of life on Earth, have now been discovered at low temperatures in space.
This finding has taken the scientific community by surprise, and it threatens our understanding of cosmic aqueous chemistry. The question is how can such fragile form in the high-energy conditions found on Earth maintain their structures in the hard, radiation-filled vacuum within space.
This has to do with these carbon-based molecules being able to adapt in a variety of clever ways to their extra-terrestrial environment. The frigid, dark void of space could offer the ideal environment for creating and preserving complex organic compounds.
However, the extreme cold and absence of UV radiation in deep space help to build and preserve these fragile structures, stabilizing them in a manner that was previously unthinkable. A new world of possibilities has been prepared — we are learning to untie the elaborate knot of cosmic chemistry unfolding elsewhere, in uncharted regions of the universe.
Conclusion
The detection of large carbon-rich molecules in deep space, is one such thing humans previously could not conceive of any plausible way for them to be present there. That groundbreaking discovery not only shakes up our understanding of life — and its origins on both Earth and beyond — but also expands the frontiers of chemical diversity in the universe. By getting to the bottom of the puzzles of cosmic chemistry, we may discover surprising implications that could revise our fundamental science altogether, changes that would open numerous areas for further research such as in astrobiology or materials development. The universe, it seems, is full of the unexpected and we have a long way to go yet on this voyage of discovery.
