Mirror Image Molecule Spotted In Space For The First Time

First Posted: Jun 17, 2016 05:05 AM EDT

Deep space has always been one of the biggest mysteries known to mankind, and for the first time ever, researchers found the first evidence of chiral molecule with two mirror image "twins" in interstellar space.

First mirror-image molecule found in interstellar space https://t.co/x0I1DXaort pic.twitter.com/jZsrNEEYzq

— New Scientist (@newscientist) June 15, 2016

Molecules - especially large and complicated ones - come in mirror image forms, even when they have the same formula. These are often termed as "left-handed" and "right-handed" molecules, and they behave the same way physically. However, they can react differently with different substances. For instance one form of pharmaceutical compound could help medicate a person, while the other form could be harmful to the body.

Nobody ever spotted a chiral molecule in interstellar space, Brett McGuire, an astrochemist at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena told Science Mag. However, when he and his colleagues sorted through data they gathered with the help of radio telescopes, they noticed signs of propylene oxide (CH₃CHCH₂O) in a large cloud of gas in the middle of the Milky Way.

He also said, "This is the first molecule detected in interstellar space that has the property of chirality, making it a pioneering leap forward in our understanding of how prebiotic molecules are made in the Universe and the effects they may have on the origins of life."

Brandon Carrol, a chemistry graduate student at the California Institute of Technology also shared that the propylene oxide is among the most structurally intricate molecules ever detected so far in space.

Express UK noted that the discovery of these complex organic molecules gives weight to the theory that life was delivered to our earth from galactic bodies like meteorites.

McGuire explained that by discovering these chiral molecules in space, there is finally a way for humans to study where and how these molecules from before they find their way into the meteorites and comets, in order to further understand the role they play in the origins of life.