Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope found key ingredients required to make a margarita cocktail in space. The unusual discovery hints at the potential for habitable worlds beyond our own.
NASA says that the chemical ingredients found around the protostars known as IRAS 2A and IRAS 23385, are tied to habitable planets and familiar parts of life on Earth- margaritas, vinegar and ant stings.
The team of astronomers used Webb's MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) to identify a variety of icy compounds made up of complex organic molecules like ethanol (alcohol) and likely acetic acid (an ingredient in vinegar). This work builds on previous Webb detections of diverse ices in a cold, dark molecular cloud.
NASA noted that these planets are not yet forming around those stars, these and other molecules detected there by Webb represent key ingredients for making potentially habitable worlds.
"All of these molecules can become part of comets and asteroids and eventually new planetary systems when the icy material is transported inward to the planet-forming disk as the protostellar system evolves," Ewine van Dishoeck of Leiden University, one of the coordinators of the science program, said in a NASA post.
The science team also detected simpler molecules, including formic acid (which causes the burning sensation of an ant sting), methane, formaldehyde, and sulfur dioxide. Research suggests that sulfur-containing compounds like sulfur dioxide played an important role in driving metabolic reactions on the primitive Earth.
"We look forward to following this astrochemical trail step-by-step with more Webb data in the coming years," Dishoeck said.
These observations were made for the JOYS+ (James Webb Observations of Young ProtoStars) program.
