The Giant Alcohol Cloud

Alcohol cloud? You shouldn’t be surprised. Alcohol is a simple molecule formed from sufficiently abundant elements like hydrogen, carbon and oxygen.

It is well known that the space is full of molecular clouds and dust full of all kinds of chemical compounds, but the reaction between them can easily produce alcohol. Unfortunately, for us it is methyl alcohol, therefore, can’t be used for consumption.

Methanol is used in antifreeze and windshield washer fluid. This particular cloud of alcohol contains a cocktail of 32 components od some nasty chemicals as carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, and ammonia.

Discovered in 1995, by Drs Tom Miller, Geoffrey MacDonald, and Rolf Hagins, near the Aquila constellation the giant alcohol cloud is 1000 times bigger than our solar system diameter. The gas cloud is 58 quadrillion miles away from earth, about 6500 light years.

The giant cloud covers the stellar nursery. The team of astronomers that