- 2820 - LIFE - coming to us from space? - Our Solar System formed 4,600,000,000 years ago out of a dense, interstellar molecular cloud. ( See Review 2819 to learn about Interstellar Dust ). These clouds are essentially clouds of dust and gas that span a few hundred light years across. Our Milky Way Galaxy spans 100,000 light years across. Could life originated in these clouds?
--------------- 2820 - LIFE - coming to us from space?
- In the 1930’s astronomers first detected other complex molecules in the interstellar medium. First simple diatomic molecules were discovered, 2-atoms bound together like H2, 2 atoms of hydrogen gas. Today molecular hydrogen and carbon monoxide have been found in the most distant cosmos. Complex molecules, defined as more that 8 atoms bound together , have been detected in space. A total of over 150 different molecules so far.
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- One of the mechanisms that creates the large molecules is density waves, which are shockwaves, a type of sound wave in a different medium other than air. Density waves create supersonic shockwaves that compress atoms and molecules together increasing their chemical complexity. The spiral arms of our Milky Way Galaxy are created by rotating density waves.
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- The largest molecule detected so far is cyanodecapentayne, HC11N. It is a molecule 13 atoms long. The hot core at the center of our galaxy is abundant with glyceraldehydes, CH2OHCHO, which is a simple sugar. A glyceraldehydes sugar molecule was detected emitting and absorbing energy at a very cold 8 Kelvin. 90% of the molecules detected in interstellar space are these complex carbon compounds.
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- The simplest amino acid is glycene. Astronomers have been looking hard for this molecule in interstellar space but no luck so far. Astronomers have found that the more they probe into the interstellar medium, the nebulae and the exoplanets the more complex the organic chemistry gets.
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- Dense molecular clouds tend to last only hundreds of million of years. 10% of their mass forms into stars and the cloud then dissipates due to the stars solar winds.
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- Amino acids were found in the Murchison meteorite that landed in Australia in September 1969. These amino acids may have been nitriles at the time the solar system was formed. Nitriles are a form of cyanide. When this form of cyanide reacts with water amino acids are created.
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- These early planetary processes can transform organic molecules into biologically interesting materials, But, there is an incredibly large gap between carbon compounds and the complexity of a living cell. However still, if you are reading this you are living proof that live formed around at least one star.
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- Organic chemists tell us that sugar alcohol glycerol, which is abundant in meteorites, can be transformed into simple carbohydrate dehydroxyacetone and, in the presence of borate, it can produce ribose molecules which in turn form RNA. RNA is the basic building block for DNA.
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- This chemistry causes may scientists to believe life is present in the cosmos. Others contend that there is too big a difference between carbon molecules and a living cell.
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- A human chromosome 22 has 100,000,000 nucleic acids in its sequence encompassing 1,000,000,000 atoms. If you heat this chromosome, or shake it, or disturb it in most any way it falls apart. Yet, somehow, here on Earth these molecules are everywhere. And somehow hold together?
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- Science is trying hard to close the gap between interstellar astro-chemistry and Earth-based biology. Of course, even Earth-based science has not solved the mystery of how we get from chemistry to biology.
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- We might discover the answer in space before we find it on Earth. Like helium which is a gas that was discovered on the Sun before it was discovered here on Earth. A true story.
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- September 8, 2020 1016 2820
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