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To spot benzonitrile, astronomers led by chemist Brett McGuire of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Virginia observed the Taurus cloud for more than 35 hours in total, combining all the light collected into a single dataset that finally showed the molecular signature.

Benzonitrile made its presence known by emitting photons in the radio range of the electromagnetic spectrum as the molecule tumbled end over end in space.

The researchers were able to identify benzonitrile because it is asymmetric: on one edge of its carbon hexagon hangs a carbon–nitrogen pair.

The team hopes to use the same technique to identify benzonitrile in other cosmic locations soon.