August 1, 2017

Titan and a vinyl cyanide molecule (Image B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF); NASA)

An article published in the journal “Science Advances” describes the detection of vinyl cyanide molecules on Titan, one of the planet Saturn’s moons. Using archive data of observation carried out with the ALMA radio telescope between February and March 2014, a team of researchers found evidence of the presence of those molecules in significant amounts. The importance of the discovery is due to the fact that it’s a substance considered to be among the best candidate for the formation of membranes and vesicles similar to those of Earth organisms’ cells.