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According to the new research — published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters — the naphthalene molecules were discovered 700 light-years from Earth in a star-forming region of the constellation Perseus, in the direction of the star Cernis 52.

When napthalene is mixed with water and ammonium — both also common in the interstellar medium — and subjected to ultraviolet light, these molecules react to form a variety of compounds essential to the development of life as we know it on Earth, including amino acids and several precursor molecules to vitamins.