星际防冻液（英文）

Interstellar Antifreeze

Astronomers using the National Science Foundation's 12-Meter Radio
Telescope at Kitt Peak, Arizona, have discovered ethylene glycol in
molecular clouds in Sagittarius. The molecule, according to team members
Jan M. Hollis (NASA/Goddard), Frank J. Lovas (University of Illinois),
Phillip R. Jewell (National Radio Astronomy Observatory), and Laurent H.
Coudert (University of Paris), is one of the five largest molecules ever
discovered in space (it has 10 atoms) and is a reduced form of
glycolaldehyde, a simple sugar. In a prepared statement, Hollis said,
"These detections suggest that the production of more complex sugars, like
ribose [the backbone of RNA], may be occurring in interstellar clouds."

转自: SKY & TELESCOPE's WEEKLY NEWS BULLETIN - May 10, 2002