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The constellation of Perseus, sitting roughly 240 light-years from our planet, is a thing of beauty with a myriad of stars, clusters and nebulae peppering the region. And within this magical setting lies the Perseus molecular cloud — a young star cluster only 2-3 million years old.
As the closest star-forming region to our solar system, we’re certain there are a bunch of fascinating things happening in this “extraordinary laboratory of organic chemistry”. But what researchers recently detected in this region might very well be the precursors for life itself!
A study led by the researcher Susana Iglesias has detailed the presence of large quantities of complex organic molecules in the Perseus molecular cloud. And some of these biological molecules are considered essential building blocks for the construction of more complex molecules like amino acids. Amino acids formed the genetic code of ancient microorganisms, making it possible for life to flourish on Earth.
Understanding the distribution and abundance of these precursor molecules in probable planet-forming regions is an important challenge for astrophysics.
While researchers found fullerenes (carbon allotropes) in the star formation region IC 348 of the Perseus cloud back in 2019, the recent study reported finding common molecules like molecular hydrogen (H2), hydroxyl (OH), water (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2) and ammonia (NH3) as well as several carbon-bearing molecules.
These molecules could play a crucial role in the production of more complex hydrocarbons and prebiotic molecules, such as hydrogen cyanide (HCN), acetylene (C2H2), diacetylene (C4H2), cyanoacetylene (HC3N), cyclobutadiene (HC5N), ethane (C2H6), hexatrine (C6H2) and benzene (C6H6), the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias reported.
Further, the data collected by the team also shows the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and the fullerenes C60 and C70 — more complex hydrocarbons.
“IC 348 seems to be very rich and diverse in its molecular content. The novelty is that we see the molecules in the diffuse gas from which stars and protoplanetary discs are forming,” said Iglesias-Groth. He was responsible for finding fullerenes in the same cloud.
The occurrence of what researchers call ‘prebiotic molecules’ in the Perseus molecular cloud indicates the possibility of accretion processes taking place onto young planets.
“These key molecules could have been supplied to the nascent planets in the protoplanetary discs and could in this way help to produce there a route towards the molecules of life”, explained Marina-Dobrincic, the co-author of the study.
Future research will entail studying the spatial distribution of these molecules using data from the James Webb Space Telescope, as this would paint a clearer picture of the probable presence of amino acids in the star-forming region.
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