By Sarah Cope | 2025-12-29

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have discovered complex organic molecules (COMs) frozen in ice around a young star, ST6, in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy 160,000 light-years away.

The research team, led by University of Maryland astronomer Marta Sewiło, identified five carbon-based compounds in the ice surrounding the protostar: acetic acid, ethanol, methanol, methyl formate and acetaldehyde.

Each of these compounds contain key functional groups essential to the survival of living organisms.

The discovery, published in the October 22 issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters (Vol. 992 No. 2), is groundbreaking for several reasons:

• It marks the first detection of acetic acid, universal metabolic building block, in space ice. One of the compound's derivatives forms a central chemical link between what organisms consume and how cells produce energy.
• It is the first observation of ethanol, methyl formate, and acetaldehyde in ices beyond the Milky Way.
• The compounds were found in a harsh, low-metallicity environment resembling conditions in the early universe, suggesting the precursors to life may have formed earlier and under more diverse conditions than previously thought.

The lower presence of heavy elements (those heavier than helium and hydrogen, such as carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, iron, and calcium) in the Large Magellanic Cloud, combined with high ultraviolet exposure, would have been expected to inhibit complex chemical synthesis.

The complexity of the discovered compounds indicates that space chemistry is not just simple carbon molecules but naturally moves toward more elaborate compounds -- as prebiotic chemistry, the processes that create life, requires.

The discovery in the Large Magellanic Cloud also suggests life’s key ingredients are not specific to Earth or to the Milky Way.

This deepens scientists’ ability to move from exploring the ingredients of living organisms to understanding the conditions under which these compounds organize into life.

JWST delivers groundbreaking insights

The research team also observed potential indicators of glycolaldehyde, a sugar-related molecule linked to the formation of RNA, a molecular relation of DNA that is found in every form of life on Earth.

Further analysis is required to confirm the molecule’s presence.

JWST’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) enabled the detection of these faint spectral features with unprecedented precision.

The MIRI includes a camera and spectrograph capable of detecting light in the mid-infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum. By the time it reaches our galaxy, light from distant galaxies has shifted into the mid-infrared range.

The findings of these chemical compounds highlight the JWST’s ability to uncover groundbreaking insights into cosmic chemistry, even from tens of thousands of light-years away.

Study co-author Will Rocha of Leiden University in the Netherlands, suggested chemical reactions on the surfaces of interstellar dust grains likely produced these molecules, supporting theories of organic synthesis in extreme environments.

The discovery provides evidence that organic compounds can survive star formation and potentially integrate into planets.

"Our detection of COMs in ices supports these results,” Rocha noted.

"The detection of icy COMs in the Large Magellanic Cloud provides evidence that these reactions can produce them effectively in a much harsher environment than in the solar neighborhood."

Researchers plan to expand their study to more protostars in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.

Their natural conditions are conducive to the study of star formation, and may help scientists deepen their understanding of the distribution of these molecules and their role in the universe’s chemical evolution.