JWST has seen building blocks of life in a dark, cold cloud in space

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) peered through frigid clouds of dust and gas, looking for elements that would eventually be incorporated into new planets. Molecular cloud chemistry like this is very important for creating the building blocks of life.

The Chameleon I cloud in the new JWST image is a star-forming region about 500 light-years away. The researchers explored one of the coldest and darkest regions of the cloud, a dense mass where stars are beginning to form.

The research team used the faint light that passes through this area to identify the ice present there. As starlight passed through the ice, cloud atoms and molecules absorbed certain wavelengths of light, forming a unique ‘fingerprint’. These fingerprints have enabled researchers to identify not only simple ices such as water, carbon dioxide and ammonia, but also more complex ices such as methanol and other organic molecules.

“Our results provide insight into the early stages of dark chemistry, where ice forms on interstellar dust particles and then grows into centimeter-sized pebbles that form planetary discs. ” Melissa McClure At the Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands statement. “this [line of study] It could tell us which ice mixtures, and therefore which elements, end up on the surface of terrestrial exoplanets, or which could be incorporated into the atmospheres of giant gas and ice planets. ”

These elements are so critical to the development of life that understanding how much of each element is incorporated into a newborn planet will determine how habitable that world will ultimately be. helps. The fact that Chameleon I contains complex elements suggests that planets may be born with some of the building blocks of life already baked into them.

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