Space is Full of Dirty, Toxic Grease, Scientists Reveal (theguardian.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: It looks cold, dark and empty, but astronomers have revealed that interstellar space is permeated with a fine mist of grease-like molecules. The study provides the most precise estimate yet of the amount of "space grease" in the Milky Way, by recreating the carbon-based compounds in the laboratory. The Australian-Turkish team discovered more than expected: 10 billion trillion trillion tonnes of gloop, or enough for 40 trillion trillion trillion packs of butter. Prof Tim Schmidt, a chemist at the University of New South Wales, Sydney and co-author of the study, said that the windscreen of a future spaceship travelling through interstellar space might be expected to get a sticky coating. "Amongst other stuff it'll run into is interstellar dust, which is partly grease, partly soot and partly silicates like sand," he said, adding that the grease is swept away within our own solar system by the solar wind. The findings bring scientists closer to figuring out the total amount of carbon in interstellar space, which fuels the formation of stars, planets and is essential for life.

Comments

Zerkians are such slobs. I hate sh&thole plane

[Tablizer]

Send out the Space Force to clean up the disgusting mess; and build a Dyson Wall around them.

I guess Bussard Ramjets are impossible

[mykepredko]

I imagine that this grease will literally gum up the works.

There goes my dream of travelling between solar systems using interstellar hydrogen as fuel.

Re:I guess Bussard Ramjets are impossible

[HiThere]

Well, I've seen other claims that Bussard Ramjets are impossible, but since we don't have controlled fusion yet they can't be properly evaluated.

OTOH, this could make it work even better. Carbon is a catalyst in some reactions that fuse Hydrogen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Re:I guess Bussard Ramjets are impossible

[BlueStrat]

[I guess Bussard Ramjets are impossible ]

I imagine that this grease will literally gum up the works.

There goes my dream of travelling between solar systems using interstellar hydrogen as fuel.

Nah, just use a spinning vortex to separate the hydrogen out from the grease by centrifugal force, and then you could use the grease to add to the exhaust so you can "roll coal" on nasty aliens parked along your trajectory and holding protest signs.

Strat

Packs of Butter?

[burhop]

Could someone convert that to american football fields for me? I can't do metric.

Of Course It Is

[forkfail]

Of course space is full of grease.

Just think of what would happen if the galaxy were not properly greased. It would be like trying to drive a truck with no axle grease for the axles. Things would quickly come to a grinding halt from all the friction of the rotation of the galaxy.

And what's worse, it's not under warranty!

Helpful

[drew_kime]

10 billion trillion trillion tonnes of gloop, or enough for 40 trillion trillion trillion packs of butter.

I'm glad they converted it into something easier to get my head around.

Here's the problem

[Ghosthorseman]

"The Australian-Turkish team discovered more than expected: 10 billion trillion trillion tonnes of gloop"
In what volume?

"or enough for 40 trillion trillion trillion packs of butter"
This might be intended to help me visualize the problem. It does not do that.

"clean up the disgusting mess..." Yes, but when?

[Futurepower(R)]

"Space is Full of Dirty, Toxic Grease..."

"... clean up the disgusting mess..."

I'm not waiting for that. I plan to move to a clean universe.

Re:Dark Matter

[Joce640k]

Grammar Nazis, keeping us on the straightened arrow.

Re:Dark Matter

[HornWumpus]

Hes write. I should 'ave misspeled 'fair'.

Is 10 billion trillion trillion really better...

[dunnomattic]

...than any of the following:

10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
1 x 10^34
1e+34
10 decillion
Come on. This is still Slashdot.

Re:40 Trillion Packs of Butter

[The-Ixian]

Not sure about congress, but I believe that 1 trillion butter packs == 1 white house butter troll

Re:Mist? How?

[HiThere]

Gravity wouldn't be important, but electromagnetic interactions would be. I'd expect that you'd find both globs and a fine mist, possibly with different components.

OTOH, if these carbon compounds are very light weight (as is likely with little UV to cause them to polymerize) then they'd be likely to evaporate from the globs. (Check what happens to plastics exposed to vacuum. They become brittle because the plasticizers evaporate.)