In 2020, the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2 visited the asteroid Ryugu and managed to return valuable space rock samples to Earth. And of course, even years later, thanks to these samples, we still learn about this small asteroid and the environment in which it formed. Today, scientists published Ryugu’s latest findings: Some organic compounds called PAHs can form in cold regions space.

These results could help us better understand how planets form and ultimately how life forms.

PAHs or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are ring-shaped complex organic compounds. A significant portion of carbon Universe This is found in PAHs. You can even see PAHs on Earth, which typically form when something organic doesn’t burn completely (think campfire remnants or coals left over from a barbecue grill). In space, PAHs are naturally found in nebulae, protoplanetary disks, interstellar medium, and meteorites.

The new discovery is surprising because it shows that PAHs can form not only in hot regions around stars, but also in cold regions of space. Scientists from the Western Australian Center for Organic and Isotope Geochemistry created PAHs by burning the plants. They then compared these molecules to fragments returned to Earth from Ryugu and to fragments found in the Murchinson meteorite that crashed in South Australia in 1969.

“The relationships between light and heavy carbon isotopes in PAHs were analyzed to reveal the temperature at which they formed,” said co-author Clytie Grice. expression. “Individual PAHs in Ryugu and Murchison had different properties: smaller ones probably formed in cold space, while larger ones probably formed in warmer environments, such as near a star or inside a celestial body.”

There are also PAHs due to their carbon content one of the building blocks of life. This another proof PAHs can form at low temperatures and therefore life can thrive in such cold conditions. Ryugu is a C-type asteroid, meaning it contains significant amounts of carbon and water. Such asteroids act as time capsules and can provide clues about how the solar system formed.