https://www.livescience.com/space/astronomy/scientists-found-one-of-the-largest-carbon-based-space-molecules-ever-heres-why-thats-a-big-deal
Astronomers have discovered one of the largest
carbon-based molecules found in deep space,
located within the Taurus molecular cloud, 430
light-years from Earth. The finding is
significant because it provides further clues
that might help solve a longstanding mystery
in astrochemistry: Where does carbon, the
building block of life, come from?
The molecule, called pyrene, is made up of four
fused planar rings of carbon.
"This is now the seventh individual PAH
identified in space since we first found one
in 2021," said Ilsa Cooke, assistant professor
in the UBC department of chemistry. "[PAHs]
have similar chemical structures to the
building blocks of life. By learning more
about how these molecules form and are
transported in space, we learn more about our
own solar system and so, the life within it."
The astronomers estimated that pyrene
accounted for about 0.1% of the carbon found
in the cloud. "That is an absolutely massive
abundance. An almost unbelievable sink of
carbon. It’s an interstellar island of
stability," said McGuire.
What was even more intriguing to the team,
aside from finding pyrene in the origin
place of our solar system, is the fact that
the temperatures of the cloud were measured
to be only 10 Kelvin (-263 degrees Celsius).
On Earth, PAHs are formed during high
temperature processes, namely through the
combustion of fossil fuels. Finding them in
this cold environment was therefore
surprising. "Future work aims to explore
whether PAHs can form somewhere that’s
extremely cold, or whether they arrive from
elsewhere in the universe, potentially via
the death throes of an old star," said
Cooke.
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