- 3505 - LIFE - on other planets?- - Who knows what they’ll find? Maybe an Earth-like planet is forming there, surrounded by complex organic molecules and the building blocks for life.
--------------------- 3505 - LIFE - on other planets?
- Was Life Inevitable? And, would likely be on other planets?
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- Will we ever understand life’s origins?
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- Will we ever be able to put our finger on the exact moment and circumstances that lead to living matter? Will we ever pinpoint that spark?
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- What we can do is find out how widespread the conditions for life are and how widespread the molecular constituents for life are. Scientific truth tends to come at us like clues along a winding path. Right now, we’re walking that path and finding the building blocks of life in more and more places.
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- We think “peptides“, the precursors to amino acids, can form on icy grains in space. According to one study, asteroid impacts can create chemical building blocks to life. On a comet, we’ve found “phosphorous“, one of the raw elements necessary for life, and we know that comets also host the “amino acid glycine“.
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- Researchers have found a large, complex, organic molecule in a protoplanetary disk. The molecule is called “dimethyl ether“, and while it’s not a building block for life on its own, it’s a precursor to even larger molecules that can lead to life. Researchers discovered the molecule using the “Atacama Large Millimeter / sub millimeter Array” (ALMA) in Chile.
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- “Dimethyl ether” has the formula “CH3OCH3“, simplified to “C2H6O“. It's the simplest ether and a precursor to other organic molecules. Ethers are common in organic chemistry and are widespread in biochemistry.
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- Dimethyl ether , “DME” or methoxymethane have been found in star-forming molecular clouds but never in a planet-forming disk. The presence of oxygen-bearing molecules more complex than CH3OH (methanol) in protoplanetary disks were discovered for the first time.
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- The disk is around the star “Oph-IRS 48“, 400 light-years from Earth has gas traced by Carbon Oxygen molecules and small dust grains follow a complete disk ring structure around the star. The dust particles are gathered in a crescent shape. The unusual ring is an example of dust trapping and explains how dust particles can grow by clumping together, eventually forming planets, comets, and other bodies.
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- Any rocky bodies that form around “Oph-IRS 48” may form with some biological molecules on them. These larger complex molecules are available to feed forming planets in the disc.
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- The disc contains a cashew-nut-shaped region in its southern part, which traps millimeter-sized dust grains that can come together and grow into kilometer-sized objects like comets, asteroids and potentially even planets.
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- Recent observations spotted several complex organic molecules in this region, including formaldehyde (H2CO), methanol (CH3OH) and dimethyl ether (CH3OCH3), the last being the largest molecule found in a planet-forming disc to date.
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- The researchers may have also detected “methyl formate“, another complex molecule similar to “dimethyl ether“. Methyl formate is also a building block for larger organic molecules.
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- “Peptides“, the precursors to “amino acids“, can form on the icy surfaces of dust grains, particularly with silicate and carbon atoms that attach to those grains. Amino acids themselves can form in the same environment. This newest research piles on more evidence showing that the chemical potential for life is widespread.
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- The molecules found in the Oph-IRS 48 disk may have formed before the star and the disk formed. These complex molecules can form in giant molecular clouds (GMCs,) which collapse to form stars. Molecular clouds are cold, and simpler molecules like CO2 and even individual carbon atoms can stick to dust grains.
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- The clouds forms an icy layer, and within that layer, chemical reactions can take place. Those reactions can create more complex molecules, including peptides. The products are subsequently released back into the gas phase if there is an increase in temperature resulting in thermal desorption.
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- As researchers find more complex organic molecules (COMs) in space, and as they piece together their formation, it’s changing our idea of space itself. While space is vast and cold and dark, the potential chemical origins of life appear to be widespread.
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- Habitable planets and moons might be extremely rare, especially planets like Earth that have remained habitable for billions of years, but it’s looking more and more like any planet or moon that can support life has the necessary chemicals on hand.
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- We start to follow the entire journey of these complex molecules from the clouds that form stars to planet-forming discs and to comets. With more observations, we can get a step closer to understanding the origin of prebiotic molecules in our own Solar System.
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- Future observations of the IRS 48 icy dust-trap will allow for the detection of other complex organic molecules and more robust constraints on the column density and excitation conditions.
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- Future observations with even more powerful telescopes will tell astronomers more about these complex organic molecules and their path from giant molecular clouds to comet and planet formation. The cashew-shaped dust-trap is probably caused by the formation of a planet in the disk or maybe by a smaller companion star.
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- The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) will have enormous observing power, and astronomers should be able to see the very inner regions of the disk with it. That’s where rocky planets like Earth could be forming inside the frost line, and astronomers can use the ELT to study chemistry in that region.
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- Who knows what they’ll find? Maybe an Earth-like planet is forming there, surrounded by complex organic molecules and the building blocks for life.
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March 15, 2022 LIFE - on other planets? 3505
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--------------------- --- Wednesday, March 16, 2022 ---------------------------
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