Methenium, AKA methyl cation, the foundation of all life, found in the Orion Nebula by NASA

Unearthing the origins of life in space, NASA's latest finding brings us closer to understanding our cosmic neighborhood's potential for life.

Through official accounts, NASA announced having detected in space the essential component of life throughout the universe. The essential component of life was discovered using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

And according to NASA scientists, this component is about 1,350 light-years away in the Orion Nebula.

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Essential Component of Life, Orion Nebula (James Webb Space Telescope / NASA)

This is the essential component of life identified by NASA.

Through its official accounts, NASA announced the discovery in the space of the essential component of life throughout the universe.

According to NASA, the discovery was made by a team of international scientists with the help of the James Webb Space Telescope.

This carbon component is known as the ‘methyl cation’ or methenium and is the most important molecule in forming other more complex molecules: “the basis of all known life.”

The methyl cation was detected in a protoplanetary disk, a reservoir of material from which planets can form, known as: ‘d203-506′.

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This deposit in which the essential component of life is found is located about 1,350 light-years away from Earth, in the Orion Nebula.

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Essential Component of Life, Orion Nebula (James Webb Space Telescope / NASA)

Methane is the essential component of all life in the universe.

Methane or methyl cation is considered the essential component of all life in the universe because it allows the construction of more complex carbon molecules.

In this sense, it is worth remembering that carbon compounds form the foundation of all life so far known:

  • Animals
  • Plants
  • Human beings

Therefore, the methenium in space would help research on the development and origin of life.

NASA scientists pointed out that the interaction of methane with ultraviolet radiation would play “a fundamental role in the first chemical stages of the origins of life.”