Overview
- The detection was reported Monday, July 13, 2026, in Nature Astronomy by a Spanish-led team headed by Izaskun Jiménez-Serra.
- Researchers matched laboratory-measured spectra of erythritulose to up to 12 separate radio lines captured with the Yebes and Pico Veleta telescopes to identify the molecule.
- Erythritulose was found in the chemically rich molecular cloud G+0.693−0.027 near the Galactic center and appears at least eight times more abundant there than comparable three-carbon sugars.
- The team argues the sugar most likely forms on icy dust-grain surfaces from simpler two-carbon precursors such as alcohols and aldehydes, showing a plausible nonbiological route to larger organics.
- Experts say the finding advances astrochemistry and models of prebiotic chemistry but caution it does not prove biological activity or solve origin-of-life questions and requires independent confirmation and further observations.