The interesting case of 'buckyballs'

It was just three months ago that scientists first announced they'd found the 60-packs of carbon molecules, known as buckminsterfullerens, in a planetary nebula, the death shroud of an exploded star, according to findings from the Spitzer Space Telescope.

This week, astronomers report four more sightings of buckyballs in planetary nebula, including one located beyond the Milky Way in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a neighboring galaxy about 210,000 light-years away, writes Irene Klotz for Discovery News.