Even in this day and age, many questions remain concerning our vast universe. For instance, are we alone in the universe? Is earth the only planet with life? One way scientists have been trying to answer these questions is with a 30-meter radio telescope. This telescope forms radio images of cosmic objects by tracking the radiation wavelengths from a source object in space. The telescope has the power to track multiple millimeter wavelengths at one time enabling scientists to gather detailed information on many different components in space. When scientists then analyze this information more closely, they are often able to develop detailed maps of the structures and identify exactly what types of molecules are present. Scientists hope to find the building blocks of life, amino acids, somewhere in this mix of data.

While scientists have not been that fortunate yet, they have discovered something very special indeed: ethyl formate. Ethyl formate is an organic compound quite common on earth and is formed when ethanol and formic acid condense. This compound is responsible for raspberries’ taste. Additionally, ethyl formate gives rum its scent leading many to believe that the center of our galaxy tastes like raspberries and smells of rum. Unfortunately this isn’t quite the case according to Arnaud Belloche, an astronomer at the Max Planck Institute. He told the Guardian, “[Ethyl Formate] does happen to give raspberries their flavour, but there are many other molecules that are needed to make space raspberries.”

Nevertheless, the discovery of ethyl formate is still very exciting for researchers at the the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany because it is such a large compound. If substances such as this can exist in space, there is very little reason to doubt why amino acids and other larger necessary life molecules can’t exist in space as well. The Planck Institute researchers uncovered the molecule by sifting through the hundreds of thousands of signals gathered by IRAM (Institute for Radio Astronomy in the Millimeter Range) telescope.

The IRAM 30m telescope is one of today’s largest and most sensitive millimeter telescopes according to the telescope’s website (http://iram-institute.org/EN/). This telescope gathers weak cosmic signals and strengthens them by lowering the frequency by a set amount. Researchers then examine the “intermediate frequency” (the new amplified frequency) and construct the data into radio images of corresponding space molecules.

As scientists continue their exploration of space, hopefully more intriguing molecules like ethyl formate will be uncovered. The research at the Max Planck Institute with the IRAM telescope is only just beginning, but the results already seem very promising. Their current exploration certainly makes it seem plausible that those core questions pertaining to the universe just might have answers very soon.