Astrophysicists have unraveled the secret of organic molecules on the Ryugu asteroid

Curtin University: Organic molecules from asteroid Ryugu appeared in cold regions of interstellar space

Astrophysicists from Curtin University in Australia have suggested that organic molecules from the Ryugu asteroid and the Murchison meteorite did not appear near hot stars, as other astronomers had assumed, but in cold regions of interstellar space.

The authors of an article in the journal Science studied polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons – naphthalene, fluoranthene, pyrene, phenanthrene and anthracene and came to the conclusion that they often contain two carbon-13 isotope nuclei.

Experiments have shown that the source of some polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons could be cold interstellar clouds.