Illustration of Buckyballs in Space (IMAGE)

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Illustration of Buckyballs in Space

Caption

This is an artist's concept depicting the presence of buckyballs in space. Buckyballs, which consist of 60 carbon atoms arranged like soccer balls, have been detected in space before by scientists using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The new result is the first time an electrically charged (ionized) version has been found in the interstellar medium.

Credit

NASA/JPL-Caltech

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