Deadly 'cosmic cocktail' floating in Milky Way tastes like raspberries and smells like rum

Sagittarius B2 is a giant molecular cloud at the centre of our galaxy, located roughly 300 light-years from Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy. It smells like rum and tastes like raspberries, and is the Milky Way's most prolific stellar nursery. Scientists used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to look past the thick dust at the galactic centre, where they came across some fascinating things. Let's take a quick dive into the world of Sagittarius B2, a dense "cosmic chemistry lab" that has left astronomers amazed.

Rum and raspberry cloud

The first time Sagittarius B2 revealed itself to be a cocktail of raspberry and rum signature was in 2009. It is located about 26,000 to 27,000 light-years away from Earth, and 330 to 390 light-years from the galactic center. The dense, freezing cloud of gas and dust attracted astronomers who used the IRAM radio telescope in Spain to look for the chemical signatures of complex molecules that might be precursors to life. But they ended up making another insightful discovery. This region was filled with ethyl formate, or C3H6O2. This chemical compound revealed what this centre would taste and smell like - raspberries and rum - since this is the exact signature found in the sweet fruit and the alcohol.

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Sagittarius B2 spans 150 light-years, and all of it is basically a massive reservoir of ethanol (drinking alcohol), methanol, and propanol. This fruity cocktail is not as happy trippy as it sounds. It also contains an extremely lethal concoction of hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. Just a quick whiff is lethal enough to kill a human.

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The scientific importance of ethyl formate in the universe

Besides the fun part of alcohol floating around in the cloud, it also has huge scientific implications. The discovery of ethyl formate in deep space suggests that the complex organic chemistry needed for life can take shape anywhere and doesn't necessarily need a planet. Nooks and crannies of interstellar space could become a cocoon for complex chemicals to form and interact. Second, ethyl formate was found alongside other molecules like butyronitrile, a key requirement for the creation of amino acids, which are the building blocks of DNA.

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JWST tried to solve a galactic centre paradox

The centre of the Milky Way has been a long-standing astrophysical mystery. Despite being heavily stocked with dense molecular gas, its overall star production rate is remarkably low. However, Sagittarius B2 is an exception. It sits at the centre of the galaxy, holding a mere 10 per cent of the total gas, and yet, it is responsible for producing over 50 per cent of its newborn stars. Astronomers are trying to understand what makes Sagittarius B2 special. The data collected by JWST is being used to model the local magnetic fields, extreme turbulent shockwaves, and how intense radiation fields interact to trigger such hyper-efficient stellar collapses, while blocking star formation in other regions of the galactic centre.