LARGE quantities of
alcohol - ethanol -
as consumed by
earthlings have been
recently found in
abundance in the
spatial region.
Ethanol was discovered
by two radio
astronomers Geoff
Macdonald and Rolf
Habing from the
Kent University in
Canterbury, UK, close
to a newly formed star
known as
G34.3+1.15.
The discovery came
about with the
aid of the 15 m James
Clerk Maxwell
Telescope in Hawaii,
while undertaking
a routine frequency
survey. Reportedly,
14 spectral lines -
beam of electromagnetic radiation with a
narrow wavelength range - of the
ethyl alcohol
molecule were found,
indicating large
reserves. The new find
is not the only
one; ethyl alcohol was
first found in
space in i975. Surveys
over the past
two years have
revealed the existence
of nearly 80 different
molecular species
in dusty clouds of
interstellar space
often near very young
stars and stars
still being formed.
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