Star System Oph-IRS 48 Might Have a Key Ingredient to Life, Researchers Say

The biggest molecule yet observed in a planet-forming disc spinning around a distant star 444 light-years away has been discovered by researchers at Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands.

The dimethyl ether molecule is an organic compound composed of oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon. It's one of the hundreds of molecules considered necessary for the emergence of organic life in the cosmos.

This new study, "A major asymmetric ice trap in a planet-forming disk," may give light on how and why life's key chemical building blocks wind up on other worlds.

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Researchers Find Planet Forming 444 Light-Years Away

Researchers sought distinct chemical signals inside the disk encircling the young star using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile.

Oph-IRS 48 is a star in the constellation Ophiuchus with a disk that has been extensively examined by astronomers, altering our knowledge of how planets originate - and perhaps replicating the formation of the Earth 4.5 billion years ago.

Other, smaller organic compounds, such as formaldehyde, had previously been discovered inside the disk. Researchers were compelled to investigate what else may be hidden in the dust.

Dimethyl ether is a common chemical compound in star-forming clouds, but it has never been seen in a planet-forming disc previously.

The researchers also detected methyl formate, a complex chemical that is a building component for even bigger organic compounds and is comparable to dimethyl ether.

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Nashanty Brunken, a Master's student at Leiden Observatory, said per Daily Mail, "From these results, we can learn more about the origin of life on our planet and therefore get a better idea of the potential for life in other planetary systems."

Dimethyl ether is the biggest molecule ever found in a planet-forming disk, said co-author Dr. Nienke van der Marel of Leiden Observatory in the same Daily Mail report.

Researchers added that the molecule has previously been observed in the chilly clouds where stars develop, but not in an atmosphere where planets form.

They suggest that such molecules might wind up directly on planets when they develop.

Why Dimethyl Ether is Important to The Study

The researcher highlighted why the chemical had never been seen previously in such a disk and how important the ALMA telescope was in the finding.

The ALMA telescope, according to Newsweek, has a significantly better sensitivity than existing telescopes that observe these wavelengths.

Second, the dust trap in this disk is close enough to the host star that the ices are evaporating. In contrast, many disks have dust traps that are considerably colder as they get further out and/or the star gets colder, causing the ice to remain frozen out onto the grains, where ALMA cannot detect it.

She adds that the cashew-shaped dust-trap surrounding IRS 48's extremely asymmetric form makes it easy to infer that emission comes from the dust grains, but a ring-like dust trap would be harder to notice.

IRS 48 may be one of just a few systems where these sorts of findings are achievable, researchers said. They intend to get more sensitive IRS 48 data to detect other more complicated compounds, such as ones containing nitrogen.