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JWST makes first-ever discovery of crucial carbon compound in space

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Content Team
Image Credit: NASA

Using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scientists have identified a new carbon compound, called methyl cation, for the first time in space. Such carbon-based compounds are of particular interest as they form the basis for life. The newly-discovered compound was found to be a part of a young star system located about 1,350 light-years away in the Orion Nebula.