Prebiotic molecule found for the first time in the center of the Milky Way

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The Center for Astrobiology of Spain (CAB) confirmed the presence of a new molecule, considered a building block of life, in a cosmic cloud in the center of the Milky Way. This is the compound HOCOOH , also known as carbonic acid . The discovery represents the first sighting of an interstellar molecule of three oxygen atoms in the history of astrobiology.

Carbonic acid joins the select group of molecules ident Phone Number List ified as prebiotics , which float in space. The findings lead the team from the Spanish research center to imagine, once again, that the components of life can travel throughout the universe through asteroids.

According to the article published in The Astrophysical Journal , the compound HOCOOH is a precursor of relevant prebiotic molecules such as amino acids and lipids. These, in turn, are an essential part of the complex sintering process of the first RNA molecules.

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The acid was found in the molecular cloud G+0.693-0.027 located in the center of the galaxy. The discovery occurred thanks to the joint use of the Spanish Yebes and Iram radio telescopes. In the same molecular cloud, other particles fundamental to life composed of carbon have already been detected, such as the isomer (CHOH)2 discovered in 2022.

Prebiotic molecules: traces of interstellar life
The CAB team studies in depth carbon-based molecules composed of six or more atoms. Astronomical observations indicate that the interstellar medium can host and preserve them. Chemical signatures also indicate that they are uniformly distributed in solar systems. Carboxylic acids, for example, are found embedded within carbonaceous chondrite meteorites and in comets. According to new estimates from the team of astrobiologists, HOCOOH is abundant in space, although we are only beginning to understand the correct way to perceive it.

“This makes it an essential piece to understand the interstellar chemistry of carbon and oxygen, two of the fundamental chemical elements in any prebiotic process. The result confirms that the path we have chosen is the appropriate one to search for and detect more molecules that we suspect were key to the appearance of life on our planet,” says Víctor M. Rivilla, CAB researcher and co-author of the article.



The same author theorized in 2022 that the essential components of life on Earth could have arrived from space, in the form of meteorite impacts. The idea of ​​extraterrestrial molecules also coincides with another popular hypothesis of astrobiologists about the origin of water on the planet, which involves the arrival of the molecules through rock collisions .

For Rivilla, the identification of prebiotic molecules in the interstellar medium gives us the opportunity to imagine more daring scenarios for science. “The fact that these fundamental building blocks of prebiotic chemistry are available elsewhere in the Galaxy makes us think that life may not be a unique event on our planet,” she said in an official statement.