Clues to the Origins of Life Discovered in a Galaxy 160,000 Light-Years Away

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scientists discovered five carbon-rich organic compounds—methanol, acetaldehyde, ethanol, methyl formate, and acetic acid—around a young star named ST6 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), located 160,000 light-years from Earth. This marks the first confirmed detection of acetic acid in space and provides clues to how life’s chemical building blocks formed in the early universe. The metal-poor, ultraviolet-rich environment of the LMC resembles early cosmic conditions. Researchers also found possible signs of glycolaldehyde, linked to RNA formation, offering a deeper understanding of complex chemistry beyond the Milky Way.