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Two young stars in the same cradle are surrounded by a strikingly similar set of organic molecules.
In the stellar nursery HOPS-288, where three suns are forming, the ALMA telescope revealed two scorching regions around a pair of them. At –170°C, ice on cosmic dust melts, and reactions bubble up in the gas: organic molecules are born — methanol and methyl formate. The latter gives raspberries their aroma; in this cosmic cloud 1,300 light-years away, a familiar berry scent lingers.
The set of these compounds around both stars is identical, like two pies from the same dough. This means the chemical recipe for planetary systems may not be random, but preordained.
Thanks to spectroscopy — scientists identify molecules by their radio signals, much like fingerprints — it was proven that the ‘ingredients’ match. If this is standard in binary systems, the search for life becomes simpler.
The distance between stars A and B is 30 billion kilometers, light crosses it in two days. In cosmic terms, that’s like two neighboring houses.