One of the fundamental questions in looking for life in the universe is figuring out where the materials necessary for making life are likely to exist. These complex organic molecules are, somewhat surprisingly, found all over: in giant dust clouds in space, and on lonely comets in our own solar system. The question for astronomers is figuring out how they make their way onto planets like Earth.

Astronomers looking to learn about the solar system’s early history often turn to comets, as they formed very early in our history and haven’t changed much since. Alternatively, they can look to other star systems and the gaseous disks around young stars that are still in the process of forming planets.

Astronomers using the ALMA radio telescope have done just that to a young star called V883 Ori 1,300 light years away and found complex organic molecules swirling around it.

Mapping organic molecules

ALMA’s ability to see such dusty systems at high resolution has made this method much more feasible in recent years. The problem is that in the outer region of the disk, most of the organic materials are locked up in ice, and invisible to ALMA’s radio vision. Close to the star, heat sublimates the materials into gas form. The line between these two regions is usually called the snow line. But anything inside the snow line is usually too close to the star for ALMA to see clearly. Young stars shroud the centers of their systems in cocoons of dust thicker than the rest of the disk, so that even ALMA cannot see through.