# Space + Alcohol **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 20, 2001, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-alcohol/77225 "2001-08-20T20:36:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![d12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/71c47a/32.png) [@d12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d12)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-alcohol/77225/1 "2001-08-20T20:36:36Z")
During one of my grade 9 science lessons, (which I never listened because I was a little advanced) we we’re talking about Astronomy. My teacher (Mr. Lauzon) had mentioned for his professional paper he had backed up one astronomer’s theory that at the center of the Milky Way galaxy there is 1 million gallons (approx.) of some form of alcohol floating there. Now I know I’ve doubt teachers before, but should I brush this statement out of my mind? or is he onto something? ---
**Author:** ![evilhanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba8739/32.png) [@evilhanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilhanz)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-alcohol/77225/2 "2001-08-20T20:54:10Z")
Molecules of ethyl alcohol have been identified in the interstellar medium and molecular clouds associated with protostars. I don’t know how “center of the galaxy” and “1 million gallons” got into his statements, though. They’re quite misleading. ---
**Author:** ![d12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/71c47a/32.png) [@d12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d12)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-alcohol/77225/3 "2001-08-20T20:59:02Z")
Wouldn’t that mean that the Alcohol could possibly aid in the fission? But wouldn’t it be burnt out LONG before the start reaches the White Dwarf point? ---
**Author:** ![NotMrKnowItAll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6bbea6/32.png) [@NotMrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotMrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-alcohol/77225/4 "2001-08-20T20:59:06Z")
We had a “little bit advanced” kid in my H.S. calculus class. He would sleep a whole bunch. Head back and snoring! Of course we played pranks on him constantly. Usually things that resulted in extra homework for him. ---
**Author:** ![d12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/71c47a/32.png) [@d12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d12)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-alcohol/77225/5 "2001-08-20T21:02:10Z")
Heh, I’ve never really done my homework. Teacher said I should of averaged a 93%, I don’t know what I got though, I never picked up my report card. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-alcohol/77225/6 "2001-08-20T21:26:17Z")
There is probabally lots of it out there - sapce is very very big. Maybe 1million was just a way to explane to kids that even though it’s rare - space being just so f$#@en big that it must contain a buttload of it. ---
**Author:** ![d12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/71c47a/32.png) [@d12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d12)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-alcohol/77225/7 "2001-08-20T21:29:16Z")
So would it be possible for me to take Space-Tourist II to the center of the milky way and hold a frat party in due time? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-alcohol/77225/8 "2001-08-20T21:50:15Z")
> [@](#): > > one astronomer’s theory that at the center of the Milky Way galaxy there is 1 million gallons (approx.) of some form of alcohol floating there. Maybe that explains the universe and the Galaxies. God created it all as a series of gigantic stills. ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-alcohol/77225/9 "2001-08-20T22:31:29Z")
The teacher may have gotten it from the book Contact. Even though it’s a work of fiction, Carl Sagan wrote it and may have included a real reference. It’s in the chapter entitled “The Ethanol in W-3” and the quote starts on p 116 of my copy. > [@](#): > > The others would then fall silent and she would continue about doped allium arsenide detectors, or the ethanol content of the galactic cloud W-3. The quantity of 200-proof alcohol in this single interstellar cloud was more than enough to maintain the present population of the Earth, if every adult were a dedicated alcoholic, for the age of the solar system. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-alcohol/77225/10 "2001-08-20T23:23:33Z")
There was a story that made the rounds of the newspapers in the last few years about the spectroscopic detection of ethanol in a cloud in Sagittarius. Someone had calculated that there were X million gallons, or whatever, of the stuff in a particular region of space. Alcohols are fairly common organic molecules and it’s not surprising that they show up in space. They just aren’t common enough that you see them everywhere you look. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2001, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-alcohol/77225/11 "2001-08-21T00:20:04Z")
From the section labeled Molecular Clouds at: [http://astronomica.org/textbook/text/CH18.html](http://astronomica.org/textbook/text/CH18.html) > [@](#): > > The Sagittarius B2 molecular cloud, if purged of impurities, would yield approximately 10[sup]28[/sup] fifths at 200 proof, which exceeds the sum total of all human fermentation efforts in recorded history. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2001, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-alcohol/77225/12 "2001-08-21T01:23:02Z")
Before you start planning your Ramjet Bar & Grill, keep in mind that that interstellar cloud is spread out so thinly that it’s emptier than the best vacuum we can make on Earth. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2001, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/space-alcohol/77225/13 "2001-08-21T01:32:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by d12 \* > \*\*So would it be possible for me to take Space-Tourist II to the center of the milky way and hold a frat party in due time? 😛 \*\* It wouldn’t be a good idea. If I remember correctly, there’s far more methanol (the kind that makes you go blind) than ethanol. Not to mention other poisonous substances such as hydrogen cyanide.