A Sweet Thanksgiving for Our Galaxy

Sugar. A variant on the sweetest ingredient in many a sumptuous holiday feast, glycolaldehyde has now been found in a star-forming region of space far from the galactic center called G31.41+0.31, about 26,00 light years away from Earth. Directly linked to the origin of life, glycolaldehyde is an advantageous find for researchers seeking out habitable planets. A team of international researchers used the powerful IRAM radio telescope in France to observe G31.41+0.31 with high angular resolution a...