Fullerenes, also known as buckyballs, are carbon molecules that are highly stable and resistant. They were first discovered in the laboratory in 1985, and since then, there have been many instances of observational proof of their existence in space, especially within the gas clouds around old, dying stars called planetary nebulae.
A recent study from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has provided a new explanation for the presence of these molecules in the universe. The IAC study, which combines laboratory chemistry with astrophysics, has shown for the first time that grains of dust formed by carbon and hydrogen in a highly disordered state, known as HAC, can take part in the formation of fullerenes.