Curaçao-born Leiden Observatory Masters student Nashanty Brunken (24) is part of a research team that discovered the largest organic molecule (dimethyl ether) in a planet-forming disk of gas around a young star (IRS 48), a precursor to complex organic molecules that can lead to the emergence of life.
Brunken is the lead author of a study detailing the finding in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics and the research could ultimately help indicate which systems and planets are more likely to host life.
Read more about this groundbreaking discovery in Newsweek.
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