Astronomers have found a rare form of methanol, a type of alcohol, in a planet-forming disk, providing a critical step in understanding how life beyond Earth may form. This result reveals vital details about the chemical composition of the ice in disks that form planets, and what organic molecules are available for comets to deliver to planets, including in our solar system.
  • threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    4 days ago

    While astronomers have found evidence for other more complex molecules in planet-forming disks around other stars, this latest discovery is the first time that rare isotopes of methanol have been detected.

    The phys org article doesn’t specify which isotopes.

    Edit: It’s carbon 13 and deuterium:

    In addition to CH3OH, we detect 13CH3OH for the first time in a Class II disk, revealing a factor of three enhancement of 13C in the disk large organics. A tentative detection of CH2DOH is also reported, resulting in a D/H of 1%–2%, which is consistent with the expected deuterium enhancement from the low-temperature CH3OH formation in molecular clouds and with the deuteration of CH3OH measured in comets.