Scientists have found sugar in interstellar space for the first time: erythrulose, a simple compound known from raspberries and self-tanning products, was discovered in a vast cloud of gas and dust near the centre of the Milky Way, N1 reports.
Researchers believe erythrulose is formed through chemical reactions on tiny grains of interstellar dust. Such compounds can later reach planets — directly or via comets colliding with them.
"This is the first sugar ever discovered in interstellar space and it is important because it shows that such compounds are much more common than we previously thought," said Dr Izaskun Jiménez-Serra from the Spanish Centro de Astrobiología (Astrobiology Centre) near Madrid.
The discovery does not suggest the existence of extraterrestrial civilisations, but it shows that compounds important for the origin of life can form in the cold space between stars. According to Jiménez-Serra, it also opens the possibility that life on other worlds may have developed in a similar way to that on Earth.
