Remote ‘snowman’ Arrokoth is a sweet world

June 10 () –

The Kuiper Belt object Arrokoth, the most distant ever explored, formed by two lobes reminiscent of a ‘snowman’, It has a composition that makes it a sweet world.

New Year’s Day 2019NASA’s New Horizons space probe radioed images of this object, one of many that make up the Kuiper Belt beyond the orbit of Neptune, to Earth.

The images revealed that the surface of the 34-kilometer-wide, two-lobed structure was a rusty red, and this mysterious hue has kept scientists baffled ever since.

Originally, scientists proposed that radiation from the solar wind and galactic cosmic rays, which routinely bombard Arrokoth’s surface, somehow converts primitive ices like methanol into organic molecules that emit an ultra-red hue. However, Details about how this process would work remained unclear.

A new study, based on laboratory experiments that mimicked exposure to space radiation (similar to the type Arrokoth’s surface experiences) found that a sugar-rich surface may explain the object’s distinctive red color. It has been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

To reach this conclusion, scientists led by Chaojiang Zhang of the University of Hawaii exposed a frozen sample of methanol and carbon monoxide to high-energy electrons, which served as indicators of galactic cosmic rays falling on Arrokoth, in doses equivalent to about 1.8 billion years of space radiation.

The simulated radiation triggered a series of chemical reactions in the ice, leading to the formation of a group of carbon-rich molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, which are known to be common in the universe.

But interestingly, spectroscopic techniques revealed that the radiation-infused ices also produced glucose, the main blood sugar and the body’s main source of energy. The scientists also detected allose coming out of these experiments, which is a sugar found in fruits and nuts, and glycerol, which is commonly used as a humectant in soaps to help the skin retain its moisture. In other words, Arrokoth probably tastes sweet and soapy, Space.com reports.

Additionally, when observed from space, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, glucose and other sugars appear red, the scientists reported. Sugar worlds in the Kuiper Belt, like Arrokoth, may have impacted Earth early in its history and transported prebiotic molecules and water to our planet, providing the raw materials for biomolecules that would have been crucial for the emergence of life.