The Milky Way is full of "space fat", according to a study

(CNN) – The space is full of fat-like molecules, according to a new study that attempted to mimic interstellar dust in a laboratory.

The study, conducted by the University of New South Wales in Australia and the Ege University in Turkey, sought to better estimate the amount of organic matter in the space, giving scientists a better overview of life.

A team of eight scientists recreated and badyzed interstellar dust-like materials and used them to estimate how many fat-like carbon molecules (scientifically known as aliphatic carbon) are found in the world. interstellar space, beyond the limits of our solar system.

The estimated amount of "space fat" in the Milky Way far exceeded expectations: 10 trillion trillion tons – or enough to fill 40 trillion trillion trillion packets of butter.

The space is not just greasy, but dirty, said Tim Schmidt, co-author of the study and professor at UNSW.

"Think of it more as greasy soot," Schmidt told CNN. This is not a pure substance, it is not biological, it is random, it is not something that we want to eat, it would make things dirty. like soot.

The team was able to quantify spatial fat more accurately than ever before, but the material itself is not a new discovery.

"This is not so different from what we've found recently on Mars," said Schmidt, referring to the organic matter that NASA's Curiosity robot found this month- this. "This kind of material is everywhere in the galaxy."

The Creation of Life

The results, which were published in the monthly leaflets of the Royal Astronomical Society, bring scientists closer to understanding the birth of stars and planets, and the formation of life .

Many young stars are made of carbon, among other things. Carbon is also considered an essential part of life.

Before this study, scientists had only estimates of interstellar carbon, which exists in two forms: space fat, and what scientists have dubbed "mothball-like" (aromatic carbon).

The new precise figures of space grease constitute the first step. The next will be to calculate the amount of carbon similar to mothballs. It should take another three years.

Although Dr. Schmidt stated that studying fat in space was "an important achievement," he is delighted to tackle the following problem.

"The aliphatic material is rather boring," he said. "It's fat, because aromatic carbon has a relationship with graphene (a semi-metal), which makes it very interesting, so doing research in this direction is going to be very interesting."

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