Astronomers at W. M. Keck Observatory have found – for the first time – some of the basic compounds necessary to build organic molecules and one of the bases found in DNA within the inner regions of a planet-forming disk. The object, known as “IRS 46,†is located in the Milky Way galaxy, about 375 light years from Earth, in the constellation Ophiuchus. The results will be published in an upcoming issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
“We see prebiotic organic molecules in comets and the gas giant planets in our own solar system and wonder, where did these chemicals come from?†said Dr. Marc Kassis, support astronomer at the W. M. Keck Observatory. “The Spitzer Space Telescope is letting us study these young stellar objects in new and revealing ways, giving us exciting clues about where life may form in the universe.â€
http://www.keckobservatory.org/news/science/051220_irs46/051220.html
Space/Science » in reply to Did it seed the Galaxy?
re: Did it seed the Galaxy?
The whole thread (38 posts)
- Did Earth Seed Life Elsewhere in the Sol System?
- re: Did Earth Seed Life Elsewhere in the Sol System?
- Care to elaborate?? (n/t)
- re: Did Earth Seed Life Elsewhere in the Sol System?
- A good way to find out is to send humans to Mars
- Our "gravitational well" is very deep.
- Better to pponder when we FIND life elsewhere in the Solar System. (n/t)
- Possible.
- Unlikely, but plausible. The problem is the survival time
- Did it seed the Galaxy?
- re: Did Earth Seed Life Elsewhere in the Sol System?
- re: Did Earth Seed Life Elsewhere in the Sol System?