Added 1 new A* page:The BBC's new article Complex sugars cooked up from 'comet ice' describes the results of new experiments in which researchers
mixed methanol and ammonia with water, and subjected the cocktail to low pressure and very low temperature (-195C) in a vacuum chamber. They then allowed it to condense on a very cold surface, just as "pre-cometary" ice might settle around dust grains.
As it condensed, they hit the mixture with intense UV light - such as the young Sun would have emitted - and let it to warm up to room temperature. |
The article also points out that the Philae lander dropped onto comet 67P in 2014 detected a "frozen primordial soup" on the comet's surface. So it seems that the building blocks of life as we know it—amino acids—and the fuel that powers it—sugars—could very well be quite common in the icy regions of solar systems.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Here's a sketch I sent to a reader as their monthly reward for supporting the comic through the A* Patreon campaign! Thanks to everyone who helps keep this comic coming to you every weekday by helping me out through Patreon : )
|
