Astronomers have made the first secure detection of the methyl radical, CH3, around a dying star, using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

The international team, led by researchers from the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, found the molecule around SMP LMC 011, a carbon-rich star nearing the end of its life in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Methyl radicals are unusually reactive because of an unpaired electron, so they vanish quickly and are extremely hard to observe. “Detecting it directly, and actually measuring how much is there, was only possible thanks to the extraordinary sensitivity of JWST,” said Jialu Li, the study’s lead researcher.

The team found more methyl than ordinary chemistry can explain. They suggest ultraviolet light and shocks are eroding carbon dust grains and releasing the molecule back into gas, feeding the growth of larger organic molecules.

The study appears in The Astrophysical Journal Letters and may force updates to models of how carbon chemistry builds the raw material of planets and life.