At first mention, the idea of a comet containing alcohol and sugar may prompt the thought, "Why can't one of those crash into the Earth?"
But it turns out that we're not talking about a space margarita with a side order of bon-bons. Neither of the two chemicals involved are in consumable format, mass quantities or otherwise. But they are complex organic molecules that can help scientists get a clearer picture of what Earth was like about the time it was formed. Comets date back to the time of planetary formation, but since they didn't become part of a planet, they haven't been smacked around by meteors, subjected to tidal stresses from their moons or been fiddled with by the current tenants. A look at a comet is a look at what was around about four and a half billion years ago.
So it's interesting that these complex organic molecules were already here even as the planets were forming. Scientists are sure that says something about how life came to be, even if they're still not entirely clear on what "something." is.
2 comments:
Margaritas! In! SPAAAAAAAAACE!
no, really: that's pretty interesting. I wonder if any of those compounds come in D or L forms (like amino acids: but living things can only use the L form, as far as I can remember). Would be interesting to compare the D:L ratios in a comet with those found on earth.....
(Though I really mainly made this comment because I wanted to say Margaritas! In! SPAAAAAAAAACE!)
It's probably a phrase that isn't said enough.
I imagine there's something online that goes into deeper detail than a Yahoo news story and gives some characteristics of the molecules. I remember that about amino acids but I can't recall if it included other organic molecules as well.
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