Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have discovered a wealth of molecules that could serve as the initial building blocks of life in a bright, relatively close galaxy. The discovery could deepen our understanding of how complex carbon-based molecules form in some of the most extreme regions of the galaxy.<\/p>\n
The team behind this research used the JWST’s Near InfraRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) instruments to investigate IRAS 07251\u20130248, an ultra-luminous infrared galaxy whose dense galactic heart is obscured by immense amounts of dust and gas. This material absorbs many wavelengths of light, except infrared. And as the JWST<\/a> studies the cosmos in infrared, that makes it the ideal instrument to dive into the heart of IRAS 07251\u20130248 \u200a\u2014 and what it discovered there surprised astronomers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “We found an unexpected chemical complexity, with abundances far higher than predicted by current theoretical models,” team leader Ismael Garc\u00eda Bernete, a researcher at the Center for Astrobiology (CAB), said in a statement.<\/a> “This indicates that there must be a continuous source of carbon in these galactic nuclei fuelling this rich chemical network.”<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n Using data from MIRI and NIRSpec, the team was able to characterize the abundance and temperature of chemicals in gas, dust, and ices in IRAS 07251\u20130248, discovering a staggeringly rich inventory of small organic molecules, including benzene, methane, acetylene, diacetylene, triacetylene, and the highly reactive methyl radical, which has never been detected beyond the Milky Way<\/a> before. The investigation also revealed solids, including grains of carbon-based material and water ice.<\/p>\n These molecules could serve as the building blocks of more complex organic molecules, which are vital in the development and sustaining of life.<\/p>\n “Although small organic molecules are not found in living cells, they could play a vital role in prebiotic chemistry, representing an important step towards the formation of amino acids and nucleotides,” team member Dimitra Rigopoulou of the University of Oxford said.<\/p>\n The chemistry seen by Rigopoulou and colleagues can’t be explained by extreme temperatures and the turbulent stirring of gas alone, leading the team to suggest that bombardment by high-energy particles called “cosmic rays” may have fragmented larger molecules like carbon-rich grains of dust. This would have released small organic molecules.<\/p>\n The findings suggest that the heavily obscured galactic nuclei of galaxies like IRAS 07251\u20130248 could act as a production line for organic molecules, thus chemically enhancing their home systems.<\/p>\n