时间：2025-06-15 01:36:25 来源：不由自主网

The 关键字3powerful eye of the James Webb Space Telescope has spotted vital chemicals around two youthful stars.

Astronomers focused the space observatory, which orbits 1 million miles from Earth, on cosmic regions around these protostars, which are so youthful they haven't yet formed planets. But they almost certainly will: NASA suspects nearly every star has at least one planet.

And in these planet-forming regions the Webb telescope found "complex organic molecules," including ethanol (the alcohol found in alcoholic beverages) as well as another ingredient found in vinegar. Crucially, these ingredients, which form into icy materials in frigid space, might one day become part of future solar system objects, including the large space rocks that can carry organic molecules and important materials to planets. (Much of Earth's water, for example, may have come from asteroid impacts.)

"All of these molecules can become part of comets and asteroids and eventually new planetary systems when the icy material is transported inward to the planet-forming disk as the protostellar system evolves," Ewine van Dishoeck, an astronomer at Leiden University and an author of the new research, said in a NASA statement. "We look forward to following this astrochemical trail step-by-step with more Webb data in the coming years."

SEE ALSO: Webb telescope makes unexpected find in outskirts of our solar system

The new research has been accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

The Webb telescope carries instruments, called spectrometers, that can detect the composition of distant objects or places, like the atmospheres of alien planets. Spectrometers separate the light coming from these objects, similar to a prism. Different elements or molecules absorb different types of light, so the light viewed by Webb can discern what chemicals are there, and which aren't.

The first graphic below shows the different light spectrums Webb picked up while scanning the distant protostar IRAS 2A. Ethanol was present in different groups of icy materials.

The complex organic molecules identified by the James Webb Space Telescope around the protostar IRAS 2A. Credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / L. Hustak (STScI) // Science: W. Rocha (Leiden University) The chemical-rich region of space around the protostar IRAS 23385. Credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / W. Rocha (Leiden University)

In addition to alcohol, the Webb telescope identified formic acid, methane, and likely acetic acid, NASA explained. Crucially, these are "key ingredients for making potentially habitable worlds," the space agency said.

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

A habitable world is one that harbors conditions that can sustain life — though this doesn't nearly mean there's life there. NASA is currently sleuthing for worlds that might be habitable, some of which might even resemble ocean-covered Earth.

---

Featured Video For You

---

10 mind-blowing discoveries from the James Webb Telescope

---

The Webb telescope's powerful abilities

The Webb telescope — a scientific collaboration between NASA, the ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency — is designed to peer into the deepest cosmos and reveal new insights about the early universe. But it's also peering at intriguing planets in our galaxy, along with the planets and moons in our solar system.

Here's how Webb is achieving unparalleled feats, and likely will for decades:

- Giant mirror: Webb's mirror, which captures light, is over 21 feet across. That's over two-and-a-half times larger than the Hubble Space Telescope's mirror. Capturing more light allows Webb to see more distant, ancient objects. As described above, the telescope is peering at stars and galaxies that formed over 13 billion years ago, just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.

"We're going to see the very first stars and galaxies that ever formed," Jean Creighton, an astronomer and the director of the Manfred Olson Planetarium at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, told Mashable in 2021.

---

Related Stories

---

• Webb telescope just found the holy grail in a famous supernova
• Stunning Webb telescope photo shows actual bending of spacetime
• You should buy eclipse glasses right NOW. Here's how to find legit ones.
• What will happen when the next supervolcano erupts, according to NASA
• If a scary asteroid will actually strike Earth, here's how you'll know

- Infrared view: Unlike Hubble, which largely views light that's visible to us, Webb is primarily an infrared telescope, meaning it views light in the infrared spectrum. This allows us to see far more of the universe. Infrared has longer wavelengths than visible light, so the light waves more efficiently slip through cosmic clouds; the light doesn't as often collide with and get scattered by these densely packed particles. Ultimately, Webb's infrared eyesight can penetrate places Hubble can't.

"It lifts the veil," said Creighton.

- Peering into distant exoplanets: As noted earlier, the Webb telescope carries specialized equipment called spectrographsthat will revolutionize our understanding of these far-off worlds. The instruments can decipher what molecules (such as water, carbon dioxide, and methane) exist in the atmospheres of distant exoplanets — be they gas giants or smaller rocky worlds. Webb will look at exoplanets in the Milky Way galaxy. Who knows what we'll find?

"We might learn things we never thought about," Mercedes López-Morales, an exoplanet researcher and astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics-Harvard & Smithsonian, told Mashable in 2021.

Already, astronomers have successfully found intriguing chemical reactions on a planet 700 light-years away, and as described above, the observatory has started looking at one of the most anticipated places in the cosmos: the rocky, Earth-sized planets of the TRAPPIST solar system.

上一篇：Jason Gillespie slams PCB over unpaid dues
下一篇：合金装备全地图怎么通关

• ·华南首例！南方医院成功实施国产单孔机器人胃癌D2根治术 　　
• ·2024正月初一拜年吉祥语 大年初一拜年语录
• ·Trung Nguyên E
• ·童装店装修效果图 童装店装修哪种模式好
• ·爱心小伙捐献造血干细胞救人：只要需要，我都愿意
• ·2024正月初一拜年吉祥语 大年初一拜年语录
• ·做一道漂亮的孔雀开屏鱼：剁椒粉丝开屏鱼
• ·高中化学离子反应教案（16篇）
• ·2025高中生必读的书籍推荐书目 语文辅导书买什么好
• ·Call of Duty: Next Reveals Urzikstan, the New Big Map Coming to Call of Duty: Warzone
• ·高中化学离子反应教案（16篇）
• ·三星嘲讽苹果液体玻璃设计 称One UI 7才是首创
• ·竞彩大势：法国力保不败 葡萄牙值得高看
• ·Call of Duty Celebrates its 20th Anniversary
• ·นายกฯ เรียกถกด่วน หารือแก้ปัญหาบุกรุกพื้นที่แนวชายแดนไทย
• ·Call of Duty: Next Reveals Urzikstan, the New Big Map Coming to Call of Duty: Warzone