A international team of scientists led by the Centro of Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, has achieved the first space-based image of S₂H, a key disulfide bond molecule in terrestrial biochemistry, towards the Horsehead Nebula. This finding suggests that complex molecules, possibly related to the origin of life, could form in cold interstellar clouds long before planets. SH⁺ and CO⁺ have also been detected for the first time in this nebula, revealing the influence of UV radiation on the chemistry of the cosmos
![This image of the GOODS-North field, captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), shows compass arrows, a scale bar, and a colour key for reference. The north and east compass arrows show the orientation of the image on the sky. Note that the relationship between north and east on the sky (as seen from below) is flipped relative to direction arrows on a map of the ground (as seen from above). The scale bar is labelled in angular distance on the sky, where one arcsecond is one 3600th of a degree. The scale bar is 60 arcseconds long. This image shows invisible near-infrared wavelengths of light that have been translated into visible-light colours. The colour key shows which NIRCam filters were used when collecting the light. The colour of each filter name is the visible light colour used to represent the infrared light that passes through that filter. [Image description: A rectangular image shows thousands of galaxies of various shapes and colours on the black background of space. The pullout features a galaxy labelled GN-z11, seen as a fuzzy yellow dot. Above it is another galaxy, seen as a fuzzy red oval. To the left of the small box, a scale bar is labelled 60 arcseconds. It extends about one tenth of the way across the image. Below the image, a list of NIRCam filters show what colours were used to make the image. Filters shown in blue are F090W, F115W, and F150W. Filters shown in green are F200W, F277W, and F335M. Filters shown in red are F356W, F410M, and F444W.]](https://cab.inta-csic.es/wp-content/uploads/elementor/thumbs/GN-z11_in_the_GOODS-North_field_notadeprensa-GO4-scaled-r41otowxrgxj9g29st0pwp42yavxtox44fqhbthxc8.jpg "GN-z11 in the GOODS-North field (compass image)")
