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Soccer balls in interstellar space
An international team of astronomers led by Masaaki Otsuka (Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics or ASIAA) has detected the C60 fullerene (molecules of carbon with 60 atoms arranged in patterns resembling a soccer ball) in the dying star M1-11. Multi wavelength observing data including that from AKARI take scientists closer to understanding the prevalence and formation of C60 in space.