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The universe is rich in molecules similar to fat.
And this "fat" is so abundant that a ship traveling in interstellar space would end up with its windshield coated with a sticky substance, according to Chemist Tim Schmidt ] of the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Schmidt and his colleagues at Ege University in Turkey manufactured materials in a laboratory with the same properties as interstellar dust .
they discovered that there are about 100 fatty carbon atoms per million atoms of hydrogen, accounting for between one quarter and one half of the available carbon.
In the Milky Way, this equates to about 10 trillion trillion tons of fat or enough to 40 trillion trillion trillion packets of butter, scientists said in a statement.
But the special fat is very different from the edible.
"You would not want to spread this space fat on a slice of bread! It is dirty, probably toxic and is formed only in the interstellar space environment and in our laboratory Schmidt said:
"Intriguing"
Carbon is one of the essential elements of life, but it is unclear how abundant it is in space.
Half of the carbon is among the stars in pure form, the rest is chemically bound in two forms: the so-called aliphatic carbon, which is similar to the fat, and the aromatic carbon, similar to that found in the balls of naphthalene. [19659002Scientistshavedevelopedaplasmacontainingcarbonundervacuumatlowtemperaturesmimickingtheprocessbywhichorganicmoleculesaresynthesizedincarbonstarflows
Schmidt and his colleagues badyzed the material in C using two techniques: MRI and spectroscopy which divides the light into its constituent wavelengths.
The researcher is determined in this way to what extent the material absorbed light with a certain infrared wavelength, an aliphatic carbon marker .
"The combination of our lab results with observations from astronomical observatories It allows us to measure the amount of aliphatic carbon between us and the stars," Schmidt said in a statement.
"It is also intriguing that organic matter of this type, embodied in planetary systems, is so abundant."
The team now wants to determine the abundance of aromatic carbon.
By determining the amount of each type of carbon in interstellar dust, scientists will be able to determine how much carbon is available to create life.
"This research helps us to understand the great life cycle of carbon ," said Schmidt.
In the stars, it crosses the interstellar medium and is incorporated into new planetary systems and into life. This is part of a beautiful story, the biggest one that exists. "
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