James Webb telescope discovers the coldest ice ever recorded in space – why it matters

The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered the coldest ice ever measured deep in an interstellar nebula. With this discovery, the international research team with Swiss participation wants to get one step closer to the origin of life. At minus 263 degrees Celsius, the ice was only about ten degrees above absolute zero, according to a study published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy.

This discovery is of great scientific importance because ice in space played a central role in the formation of the universe.

Space ice forms long before planets themselves form. It forms deep in interstellar nebulae — clouds of molecular gas and dust that eventually collide to form planets. In these clouds it is so cold that frost can form on dust particles.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), researchers have now discovered ice deeper in such a molecular cloud than ever before. In the study, the team focused on the Chameleon I molecular cloud, more than 500 light-years from Earth, where dozens of young stars are currently forming. They are located near the center, in a particularly cold, densely populated region that is difficult to study.

The researchers have already lured initial insights into the space ice. They measured the presence of various chemical elements in the ice. carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur.

“These measurements were only possible with Webb’s high-precision infrared spectrographs, which can accurately detect and break down radiation at these wavelengths,” explains co-author Maria Drozdovskaya, who works at the University of Bern. Switzerland was also involved in the development of these instruments.

The team found fewer of these elements than they expected compared to the density of the cloud. This indicates that these elements are not exclusively found in the icy components of molecular clouds, but may lurk elsewhere as well. (sda)