A team of eight scientists recreated and analyzed material similar to interstellar dust, and used it to estimated how many grease-like carbon molecules (scientifically known as aliphatic carbon) are in interstellar space, beyond the bounds of our solar system.

The estimated amount of “space grease” in the Milky Way far exceeded expectations: 10 billion trillion trillion tonnes — or enough to fill 40 trillion trillion trillion packs of butter.