[LegendaryPinkOx]

Discovery News : Discovery Channel

The discovery, which was unveiled at the American Astronomical Society conference in Austin, Texas, last week, is significant because methanimine and hydrogen cyanide are building blocks for amino acids, the foundation of life.

"Methanimine has barely been seen in our own galaxy," Arecibo astronomer Christopher Salter told Discovery News. "Nobody had looked for it in deep space."

....

Scientists are now combing through their data to see if they can detect the simplest amino acid, glycine, which forms when methanimine and hydrogen cyanide are combined with water.

"The fact that we can observe these substances at such a vast distance means that there are huge amounts of them in Arp 220," said Emmanuel Momjian, a former Arecibo astronomer, now at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro, N.M.

"It is very intriguing to find that the ingredients of life appear in large quantities where new stars and planets are born."

Neat! Could it be when a galaxy is formed that these life forming elements are dispersed throughout, but only those that land in the just right conditions fruit into life, like a dandelion blown in the wind? Nah, but cool thought none the less.

[Dakar the Fourth]

Very cool. Hopefully we don't get any knee-jerk reactions from this discovery. (On either side)

[reader50]

Originally Posted by Emmanuel Momjian

The fact that we can observe these substances at such a vast distance means that there are huge amounts of them in Arp 220 ...

It's a pity he didn't say it was Aarp 220, because that would have been most interesting. It's still interesting, even without the suggestive name.

[osiris]

Cool news. However one major flaw I see is that scientists always assume that life elsewhere is similar to what we find here on earth. That's all we have to work with, of course, so I can't really blame the scientists.

[design219]

You know, someday a fascinating form of intelligent life will be found in a star system named Myrtle Meredith Adalbert.


Damn you National Star Registry!

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by design219 

You know, someday a fascinating form of intelligent life will be found in a star system named Myrtle Meredith Adalbert.


Damn you National Star Registry!

The International Astronomical Union (IAU), not the ISR, has the internationally recognized authority to name and designate newly discovered stars, planets, asteroids, comets, and other heavenly bodies. The IAU's nomenclature, not the ISR's, is the one used by professional and amateur astronomers all over the world. It is not for sale.

[design219]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

The IAU's nomenclature, not the ISR's, is the one used by professional and amateur astronomers all over the world. It is not for sale.

You hear that? YOU HEAR THAT?

The sound of thousands and thousands of individuals screaming at their lost glory.

Thank you very much.

[Dale Sorel]

Originally Posted by LegendaryPinkOx 

...but only those that land in the just right conditions fruit into life

Maybe you want to share with us just how that happens

[design219]

Shall we pick this up in the Political/War Lounge?

[C.A.T.S. CEO]

Originally Posted by Dale Sorel 

Maybe you want to share with us just how that happens

It falls onto a planet that can support life?

[LegendaryPinkOx]

I'm not sure this is right place for such discussions, and I'm not sure anyone is certain in what fashion amino acids decided to organise themselves into double-helixes. I was merely making a wide-eyed lash into the realm of fantasy, which may not be that fantastic after this discovery. Still I acknowlage that many on this board may not believe that life began through chemical reactions; they just won't be able to share my enthusiasm.

[LegendaryPinkOx]

But if you guys want to move it to the PL by all means go for it.

[imitchellg5]

ZOMFG1!ONE!1 Teh alienz is coming1

Wouldn't there possibly be an infinite number of galaxies and solar systems with this stuff?

[IceEnclosure]

Why the **** does this, and other scientific threads seem to go to the political lounge? Is this political?

Really, I don't go in there, so I don't get to read about chemicals found in the galaxy? Is Rush Limbaugh or Al Gore involved in this? No.

Keep this in the lounge, the Poli-lounge smells like goddamned fish.

[LegendaryPinkOx]

Originally Posted by IceEnclosure 

the Poli-lounge smells like goddamned fish.

Amen!

[design219]

Agreed. I was smelling a little creationism creeping in. If someone want to debate that, please start a new thread in the poli-lounge.

[Kerrigan]

God created monkeys, and he gave an infinite number of monkeys an infinite amount of amino acids, and one of them created the double helix.

[Apemanblues]

Cool news.

As far as abiogenisis goes, the constituent parts of the puzzle are understood and I wouldn't be surprised if a coherent and robust theory of abiogenesis emerges within our lifetime. The gaps between polynucleotides, RNA and DNA are closing (yay montmorillonite!), as is the understanding of how lipid cells may become more complex through adaptation. After that, evolution by natural selection takes over and that's the story of life.

They've got lots of work to do, of course, but perhaps the scientists working on abiogenesis are still awaiting their own version of Darwin. Keep watching the science pages, these are exciting times.

[Dale Sorel]

Originally Posted by C.A.T.S. CEO 

It falls onto a planet that can support life?

And without any life existant, that is...?

[LegendaryPinkOx]

Originally Posted by Dale Sorel 

And without any life existant, that is...?

I'm not sure what your getting at here. But in the event you're not trying to start a religious/political debate, (which as many before have stated, belongs in the political lounge, not here) A planet capable of sustaining life as we know it would require:

-water
-nitrogen
-ammonia
-carbon
-temperatures ranging from 0°C to around 121°C

-Edit-....

Iron core/ Magnetic field - important to block radiation that can devistate DNA

This should support what we would call extremophilic life forms. Notice, not even sunlight is necessary, as in the case of archaea which thrive on the ocean floor near volcanic vents.

If any biology majors want to chime in in case I screwed up please do

(If a creationism/evolution debate breaks out, kill this thread immeadiately! thank you)

[PB2K]

Interesting .. because the same scientists fail to discover life in our own solar system !

[LegendaryPinkOx]

Much can happen over 250 million years! Because this galaxy is 250 million light years away, when we see it through our spectrometers, we are seeing it as it was 250 million years ago, and who knows, it could be a very young galaxy. Perhaps at one point, our galaxy was riddled with life producing chemicals, but over the billions of years they broke down (cosmic radiation and such) Only those chemicals which were lucky enough to land on a rock with the afformentioned substances were able to gain a foothold and create life!

Disclaimer - this is all very hypothetical here.

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by Dale Sorel 

And without any life existant, that is...?

Habitable zone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Dale Sorel]

Originally Posted by LegendaryPinkOx 

A planet capable of sustaining life as we know it would require:

That's my point exactly. Without the model of what exists on this planet how do we know what needs to exist in order to support life. And don't forget, the model for life that we enjoy here could be just one of many out there.

[red rocket]

Exactly. There could be all kinds of life on all sorts of planets, stars and even in space itself, which humans wouldn't be able to recognise because it doesn't fall within their xenophobic little definition of what constitutes ‘life’.