No Joke: The Center of the Galaxy is a Giant Raspberry Rum Cocktail
No matter what anyone tells you, the Milky Way absolutely does not taste like milk chocolate, caramel or nougat – but it does smell and taste very familiar. Most importantly, humanity can now prove it without having to go to the trouble of actually driving the whole 26,670 light years to the center of the galaxy.
Through the use of modern technology, scientists discovered what’s at the heart of the mysterious center of the Milky Way Galaxy (the one we humans call home). What they found was that our interstellar home has the taste and aroma of one large alcoholic beverage, a rum cocktail that could stun an elephant.
In 2009, astronomers turned Spain’s IRAM radio telescope to a giant molecular dust cloud known as Sagittarius B2, which sits some 390 light years away from the core of the Milky Way. They were actually looking for amino acids (or so they say), which are the earliest building blocks of life in the universe, but they instead stumbled onto something infinitely more important: Ethyl Formate.
While Ethyl Formate may sound like the name of your grandad’s prom date, it’s actually a really common household chemical. It’s usually found in perfumes, fruity foods and candies, like Skittles, Jolly Ranchers and Starburst. The reason is because ethyl formate is relatively non-toxic and smells nice. It also can be found naturally on Earth (including in the bodies of ants and bees, but try not to think too hard about that) and gives a sweet succulence to food and wine.
Like most of our parents, ethyl formate is composed mainly of alcohol, and is a relatively common occurrence in the universe, especially in star-forming gas clouds. Its other component is formic acid, which re-radiates radiation from stars. That re-radiation is visible to radio telescopes and that’s how European researchers were able to detect the ethyl formate. It also tastes like raspberries, which is why it’s in so many fruit-flavored candies and baked goods.
On Earth, where humans require oxygen to both taste and smell, this chemical compound is also known to smell like rum. The ethanol in the chemical gives it the distinctive (delicious) odor that Ernest Hemingway would love while the formic acid is what would give the galaxy its fruity flavor.
Although this amazing discovery occurred more than 15 years ago, we still think the galaxy is worth a taste, so we created the Center of the Galaxy, a raspberry rum cocktail worthy of its position at the center of the Milky Way.
