LOS ANGELES, June 26 (Xinhua) -- A team of international scientists has used NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to detect a new carbon compound in space for the first time.

Known as methyl cation, the molecule is important because it aids the formation of more complex carbon-based molecules, NASA said on Monday.

Methyl cation was detected in a young star system, with a protoplanetary disk, known as d203-506, which is located about 1,350 light-years away in the Orion Nebula.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world's premier space science observatory. Webb will solve mysteries in the solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of universe in it, according to NASA.

Webb is an international program led by NASA with the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.