For 35 years, scientists have been puzzled as to why deuterium appears to be distributed unevenly in the Milky Way Galaxy. A deuterium by the way is a stable isotope of Hydrogen, present in all the oceans of the earth. However, it also exists in space where it was supposed to be burned forever during star formations; thus, it was considered as a way to trace star formations. The less deuterium, the more stars present in that certain part of the sector.
A recent discovery by NASA's Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) satellite seems to be supporting a theory presented by Princeton University's Bruce Draine that deuterium might preferentially be bonded to interstellar dust grains. The satellite is detecting telltale spectral fingerprints of deuterium in the ultraviolet energy range. The higher the interstellar dust, the lower deuterium - and vice versa.
Therefore, the decrease of deuterium in a sector does not necessarily mean that there are more star formations there, but rather that the deuterium may have bonded itself to interstellar dust. Scientists are now rethinking the whole chemical evolution of galaxies.
You might think it's no biggie, but imagine growing up thinking you're a woman and later on finding out that you're actually a man biologically (it happens!)? If what Draine thinks is true, it could shake up the very foundations of existing knowledge about space. Now that a more credible institution is supporting his claims, you might want to take a look under those pants, errr, skies.
