Astronomers have discovered a type of sugar called erythrulose in the interstellar medium—the thin clouds of gas and dust between stars. This sugar, also present in raspberries and self-tanning products, was detected using two radio telescopes in Spain that analyzed a large gas cloud near the center of the Milky Way.

The identification was made by comparing telescope signals to laboratory samples, marking erythrulose as one of the most complex sugars spotted in space to date. Astrophysicist Erika Hamden of the University of Arizona, who was not involved in the study, described it as “a pristine example of the stuff that’s just floating out in the galaxy.”

About 25 years ago, scientists found a sugar related to table sugar near the Milky Way’s center. Additionally, NASA’s Osiris-Rex mission retrieved black grains from asteroid Bennu containing other sugars, including a key ingredient for DNA.

Study author Izaskun Jiménez-Serra, an astrophysicist at the Center for Astrobiology in Spain, noted that finding these sugars in one location suggests they are likely widespread throughout the galaxy along with other important organic molecules. Understanding how sugars form in space is crucial because they are fundamental components for life as we know it.

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