Organic molecules are frequently discovered on Mars by scientists working on robotic space missions, but is this a reliable indicator of the presence of life there? Most likely not, and there are valid arguments against getting overly enthused by this information.
It’s crucial to find organic compounds on other planets, but not for the reasons you may imagine. In reality, such molecules can be found not only in the Solar System but also in interstellar space.
It is not surprising that they occur on dwarf planets, asteroids, and planets beyond Earth. They can also be found in star-forming areas and on exoplanets (worlds that orbit stars other than the Sun).
Although the term “organic” may imply otherwise, these molecules simply belong to a vast class of substances that are composed of both hydrogen and carbon. However, the majority of them are actually created by inorganic chemical processes.
Numerous varieties of organic compounds have been discovered by astronomers throughout the cosmos, but none of them are proof of extraterrestrial life. In interstellar dust clouds, for instance, 256 organic species have already been identified, but there are undoubtedly no living things there.
Alcohols, acids, aldehydes, amines, hydrocarbons, cyanides, and ethyl are frequently found in these clouds. They are prevalent everywhere where stars are born, including the galactic center.
These substances, like formaldehyde and methanol, are readily found in protoplanetary discs surrounding young stars. Asteroids, planets, and moons develop in these conditions and take on the virtually universal organic compounds.
Fullerenes, the third most stable form of carbon after diamond and graphite, alkanes, and more than 70 different types of amino acids, including a completely new family of amino acids that have been discovered in the world, are found in asteroids and the frozen objects of the Kuiper belt, for example. Meteorite of Murchison. The only amino acids connected to Earthly life are those 22.
Leave a Reply