November 25, 2008

Sweet molecule could lead us to alien life

Scientists have detected an organic sugar molecule that is directlylinked to the origin of life, in a region of our galaxy wherehabitable planets could exist.

The discovery, part funded by the UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), is published today (25th November) on the Astro-ph website. The international team of researchers, including a researcher atUniversity College London (UCL), used the IRAM radio telescope inFrance to detect the molecule in a massive star forming region ofspace, some 26,000 light years from Earth.

Dr Serena Viti, one of the paper's authors from University CollegeLondon, said, "This is an important discovery as it is the first time glycolaldehyde, a basic sugar, has been detected towards a star-forming region where planets that could potentially harbour lifemay exist."

The molecule – glycolaldehyde - has previously only been detected towards the centre of our galaxy where conditions are extreme compared to the rest of the galaxy. This new discovery, in an area far from the galactic centre, also suggests that the production of this key ingredient for life could be common throughout the galaxy.

This is good news in our search for alien life, as a wide spread of the molecule improves the chances of it existing along side other molecules vital to life and in regions where Earth-like planets may exist. The team were able to detect glycolaldehyde by using the telescope to observe the region with high-angular resolution and at different wavelengths. The observations confirmed the presence of three lines of glycolaldegyde towards the most central part of the core of the region.

Glycolaldehyde, the simplest of the monosaccharide sugars, can react with the substance propenal to form ribose, a central constituent of Ribonucleic acid (RNA), thought to be the central molecule in theorigin of life.

Professor Keith Mason, Chief Executive of the Science and TechnologyFacilities Council (STFC), said, "The discovery of an organic sugar molecule in a star forming region of space is very exciting and will provide incredibly useful information in our search for alien life. Research like this, combined with the vast array of other astronomical projects involving UK researchers, is continually expanding our knowledge of the Universe and keeping the UK at the forefront ofastronomy."

Notes for editors
Contacts Julia ShortSTFC Press OfficeTel: + 44 (0)1793 442 012Mob: + 44 (0)777 027 6721Email: julia.short@stfc.ac.uk Dr Serena VitiReader and AFDept of Physics and AstronomyUniversity College LondonTel: +44 (0)20 7679 3435Email: sv@star.ucl.ac.uk

The paper will also be published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters publication

The international team of scientists are from:• The Universitat de Barcelona-CSIC, Barcelona• INAF-Istituto di Radioastronomia and INAF-OsservatorioAstrofisico di Arcetri in Florence• University College London• Institute de Radiastronomie Millimetrique, Grenoble

The massive star forming region where the sugar molecules were detected is known as G31.41+0.31

For more information on the Institut de RadioAstronomie Millimetrique(IRAM), please visit

http://www.iram.fr/

Online version of the Astrophysical Journal paper: http://babbage.sissa.it/abs/0811.3821