Merlin sees vast alcohol stream
By Jonathan Amos
BBC News science reporter, in Leicester
Astronomers using the
Merlin network of UK radio
telescopes have spied a
stream of alcohol gas that
stretches for 463 million
km (288 million miles).
It was seen in the
constellation of Cassiopeia, in
a region where hot, young
stars are forming.
The giant Lovell Telescope is at Merlin's
hub
The methanol was relatively easy to spot because of the way
its molecules were being excited by infrared light.