Posted on 12/20/2005 7:17:35 PM PST by KevinDavis
he basic molecules of life are scattered through the universe, collecting in faraway galactic clouds, on passing comets and asteroids, and on the planets here in our solar system.
But scientists still dont know how these molecules came to be, or how they originally came together to form life. Now, for the first time ever, astronomers have found some of the basic compounds necessary to build organic molecules and proteins found in DNA within the inner regions of a planet-forming disk.
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 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.
The objectIRS 46is located in the Milky Way galaxy, about 375 light years from Earth, in the constellation Ophiuchus.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Spectroscopy. It is similar to methods used in chemistry lab.
These articles are always tremendously misleading. They're talking about simple hydrocarbons (formaldehydes, alcohols). It's like saying that quartz, silicon, aluminum and copper are the basic building blocks of a laptop computer. Technically true, practically meaningless.
THank you both for your answers!
susie
You're welcome.
And nice dogs!
:)
susie
Nice lizard too. I like lizards. Out west here, I feed fence lizards, (blue bellys). Got them trained. I buy meal worms at the local store, and they come a runnin, and eat right out of my hand. Takes some time to train them. It's fun.
I like most reptiles. We have more lizards here than we can shake a stick at, but many are not native. I like em anyway.
susie
Merry Christmas Susie
ROFL! I have one of those, I'm going to start seeing if I can discover something on a distant world!! :)
susie
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