Scientists in Sydney say they have made cosmic dust in a bottle, giving them a new way to study how some of life’s chemical ingredients may have formed before Earth existed.

The research, published in The Astrophysical Journal of the American Astronomical Society, recreated space-like conditions inside glass tubes and produced carbon-rich dust similar to material found in interstellar space and preserved in comets, asteroids and meteorites.

Linda Losurdo, a PhD candidate in materials and plasma physics in the University of Sydney’s School of Physics, made the dust by combining nitrogen, carbon dioxide and acetylene, then exposing the gases to a powerful electrical charge.

The laboratory dust contains complex combinations of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, known as CHON molecules, which are found in many organic substances considered important for life.

“We no longer have to wait for an asteroid or comet to come to Earth to understand their histories,” Ms. Losurdo said.

“You can build analogue environments in the laboratory and reverse engineer their structure using the infrared fingerprints.

“This can give us huge insight into how ‘carbonaceous cosmic dust’ can form in the plasma puffed out by giant, old stars or in cosmic nurseries where stars are being born and distribute these fascinating molecules that could be vital for life.

“It’s like we have recreated a little bit of the Universe in a bottle in our lab.”

In space, cosmic dust forms under extreme conditions as molecules are repeatedly hit by ions and electrons, triggering chemical reactions that create increasingly complex materials.

Astronomers identify different types of cosmic dust by studying the infrared light they emit, which acts as a molecular fingerprint of their chemical structure.

Losurdo’s laboratory samples produced the same distinctive infrared signatures seen in space, which the researchers said shows the experiment closely reproduces processes believed to occur in real cosmic environments.

The study also feeds into a larger question about how life began on Earth.

Researchers are still investigating if the first organic molecules formed on the young planet, arrived on comets and meteorites, were delivered while the solar system was still forming, or came from a combination of those pathways.

From about 4.56 billion to 3.5 billion years ago, meteorites, micrometeorites and interplanetary dust particles from asteroids and comets repeatedly struck Earth.

Scientists believe those objects carried enormous quantities of organic material to the surface, but where that material first formed and which processes created it remains uncertain.

“Covalently bonded carbon and hydrogen in comet and asteroid material are believed to have formed in the outer envelopes of stars, in high-energy events like supernovae, and in interstellar environments,” Ms. Losurdo said.

“What we’re trying to understand are the specific chemical pathways and conditions that incorporate all of the CHON elements into the complex organic structures we see in cosmic dust and meteorites.”

Losurdo carried out the experiment with her supervisor, Professor David McKenzie.

The researchers used a vacuum pump to remove air from glass tubes to approximate the near emptiness of space, then filled the tubes with nitrogen, carbon dioxide and acetylene.

For about one hour, they subjected the gas mixture to an electrical potential of around 10,000 volts, creating a plasma known as a glow discharge.

That energy split the original molecules apart, and the components then recombined into larger and more complex chemical structures.

The newly formed material settled onto silicon chips placed inside the tubes, leaving a thin coating of dust.

Professor McKenzie said making cosmic dust on Earth gives scientists access to conditions that are hard to study directly in space.

“By making cosmic dust in the lab, we can explore the intensity of ion impacts and temperatures involved when dust forms in space,” Professor McKenzie said.

“That’s important if you want to understand the environments inside cosmic dust clouds, where life-relevant chemistry is thought to be happening.

“This also helps us interpret what a meteorite or asteroid fragment has been through over its lifetime. Its chemical signature holds a record of its journey, and experiments like this help us learn how to read that record.”

The team plans to build a database of infrared fingerprints from different kinds of laboratory-made cosmic dust so astronomers can compare them with observations of star-forming regions and the remains of dead stars.

Losurdo received the award for best presentation for the research at the international Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society late last year.

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