Astronomers Detect Sugar Molecule in Interstellar Space for First Time

For the first time, astronomers have detected a true sugar molecule in interstellar space, providing new clues about the origins of life on Earth. The sugar, erythrulose—found in raspberries and self-tanners—was identified in a molecular cloud called G+0.693−0.027, about 27,000 light-years from Earth, using two radio telescopes in Spain. The findings were published in Nature Astronomy on July 13. Led by Izaskun Jiménez-Serra of the Center for Astrobiology in Spain, the team discovered the four-carbon sugar but found no simpler three-carbon sugars, defying expectations that molecules grow one carbon atom at a time. Instead, erythrulose may have formed from the combination of glycolaldehyde and ethylene glycol. Since molecular clouds birth planets and stars, this suggests that interstellar sugars could have been delivered to Earth via space rocks about four billion years ago, with calculations indicating between 551,000 and 55.1 million U.S. tons of erythrulose may have arrived. Previous true sugars had been found only in asteroids and meteorites, not in the interstellar medium. The discovery opens the possibility that life could develop on other worlds similarly to Earth.