Stars reveal carbon 'spaceballs'  Artist's impression of the
buckyballs being formed in planetary nebulae The football-shaped
molecules are the largest molecules ever found in space  Related
Stories     The researchers report their findings in the journal
Science.  Start Quote  This provides convincing evidence that
the buckyball has... existed since time immemorial in the dark
recesses of our galaxy”  End Quote Harry Kroto Chemistry Nobel
laureate  Buckyballs consist of 60 carbon atoms arranged in a
sphere. The atoms are linked together in alternating patterns of
hexagons and pentagons that, on the molecular scale, look
exactly like a football.  They belong to a class of molecules
called buckminsterfullerenes - named after the architect Richard
Buckminster Fuller, who developed the geodesic dome design that
they so closely resemble.  The research group, led by Jan Cami
from the University of Western Ontario in Canada, made its
discovery using Nasa's Spitzer infrared telescope.  Professor
Cami and his colleag