Building Blocks of Life Found in Comet's Atmosphere
At the 1 min 45 sec mark posted by Star Tsar it seems as though the building blocks of life as we know it have been discovered in the atmosphere of comet 67P.
"Instruments on the Rosetta spacecraft have detected compounds critical to life, including the amino acid glycine and the element phosphorus, in the shroud of gases surrounding Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM - CC BY-SA IGO 3.0"
"For the first time, scientists have directly detected a crucial amino acid and a rich selection of organic molecules in the dusty atmosphere of a comet, further bolstering the hypothesis that these icy objects delivered some of life's ingredients to Earth.
The amino acid glycine, along with some of its precursor organic molecules and the essential element phosphorus, were spotted in the cloud of gas and dust surrounding Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko by the Rosetta spacecraft, which has been orbiting the comet since 2014. While glycine had previously been extracted from cometary dust samples that were brought to Earth by NASA's Stardust mission, this is the first time that the compound has been detected in space, naturally vaporized.
The discovery of those building blocks around a comet supports the idea that comets could have played an essential role in the development of life on early Earth, researchers said. [Photos: Europe's Rosetta Comet Mission in Pictures]
- See more at: http://www.space.com/33011-life-buil....sQiNeP1b.dpuf
Link:http://www.space.com/33011-life-buil...und-comet.html
