system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
What would happen to a cadaver left in space?

Would a body decompose, freeze, mummify, or remain essentially "fresh"?

Not sure what triggered this question, but I've never heard this question answered.
gpt
pressure differential would not cause any significant deformationo of the body, the human body is surprisingly good at holding together under negative pressure. Should the body be perforated in any way however expect the corpse to depressurise, liquids would boil and escape and would leave behind only freezedried residue.

Assuming the body is not perforated however then there is assumed to be a certain amount of time gut fauna and bacteria could function on the corpse before dying. This would result in some bloating and decomposition, but not overly much. Depending on where the body is in relation to a star it could very well experience extreme cold or be kept at semi normal temperatures.

After that we look to long term effects on the body in space. Exposure to UV radiation would no doubt result in continuous tissue damage to the exposed areas, however deprived of any biological function one expects that the destroyed tissues would simply turn to dust or otherwise break down.

Exposure to high velocity objects in space is the highest threat to the corpse, though unlikely an impact would rip the thing assunder.

In deep space, far away from the gravitational influence of other larger bodies its anticipated the corpse would accumulate a surface of hydrogen, water and dust, loose leftover protoplanetary matter. However this would be negligible.