Scientists have discovered a large sulfur-bearing organic molecule in space, fueling hope that the building blocks of life may be present beyond the stars. Sulfur, the 10th most abundant element in the universe, is a key ingredient for life and is vital in forming proteins, amino acids, and enzymes on Earth. The discovery of the molecule, called 2,5-cyclohexadiene-1-thione, was reported in a study published in Nature Astronomy on Jan. 23. “Sulfur came to Earth from space long, long ago,” lead author of the study, Mitsunori Araki, told CNN. “However, we have only found a very limited amount of sulfur-bearing molecules in space, which is strange. It should exist in huge amounts, but it’s very difficult to find.” Though the discovery of molecules containing sulfur in space is nothing new, the detection of a large organic compound such as this one hints that many more, possibly larger, sulfur-bearing molecules can be found in the future. “This is the largest sulfur-bearing molecule ever found in space, at 13 atoms,” Araki said. “Before this one, the largest only had nine atoms, but it was already a rare case, because most detected sulfur-bearing molecules only had three, four or five atoms.”
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