Astronomers have discovered a sugar in space, known as erythrulose, which also occurs in raspberries and self-tanners. This sugar exists within the interstellar medium, comprising thin clouds of gas and dust positioned between stars.

Sugars are important components beyond adding sweetness to foods. They energize our cells and form DNA. Understanding how sugars originate is crucial for scientists because they are vital elements for life.

Using two radio telescopes in Spain, researchers studied a massive gas cloud near the heart of the Milky Way. They identified erythrulose in its gaseous state by comparing their findings with laboratory samples. This finding adds to the list of sugars discovered in space, including a discovery in a region crossed by NASA’s Voyager spacecraft, which is the farthest human-made object from Earth.

The study was released on Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy. Within our galaxy, researchers have discovered noteworthy chemistry, such as genetic material building blocks and cell components. A type of sugar related to table sugar was identified near the Milky Way’s center around 25 years ago. Additionally, NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft retrieved black grains from asteroid Bennu containing other sugars, including a crucial DNA constituent.

The recently found sugar is not vital for life itself but can transform into a form believed to have helped initiate life on Earth. This sugar is among the most intricate discovered thus far, according to astrophysicist Erika Hamden from the University of Arizona.

“It’s a pristine example of the stuff that’s just floating out in the galaxy,” said Hamden, who was not involved in the new research.

These explorations of interstellar space seek to learn how life began. Do distant comets or space rocks bring essential ingredients to us, or were these components already present, leading to the birth of our solar system?

The new sugar discovery supports the idea that the essential ingredients may have already been here. Researchers aim to find more sugars in space and understand their transformations. Discovering them in one region suggests their presence in far corners of the galaxy alongside other significant materials, according to study author Izaskun Jiménez-Serra, an astrophysicist at the Center for Astrobiology in Spain.

“The key ingredients for the origin of life could be present in other regions across the galaxy, opening the possibility for life to develop elsewhere in the universe,” said Jiménez-Serra.