For the first time ever, astronomers have found some of the basic compounds necessary to build organic molecules and proteins found in DNA within the inner regions of a planet-forming disk.
"The researchers detected two organic compounds — acetylene and hydrogen cyanide — in amounts nearly 10,000 times higher than found in the cold interstellar gas where stars are born. These compounds are commonly found in the atmospheres of the giant gas planets in our solar system, the icy surfaces of comets, and the atmosphere of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. They also detected carbon dioxide, which is widespread in the atmospheres of Venus, Earth and Mars.
"If you add hydrogen cyanide, acetylene and water together in a test tube, and give them an appropriate surface on which to be concentrated and react, you'll get a slew of organic compounds including amino acids and a DNA purine base called adenine," said co-author Geoffrey Blake of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
These findings will be published in an upcoming issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters." 2005 Space.com.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10550906/
"The researchers detected two organic compounds — acetylene and hydrogen cyanide — in amounts nearly 10,000 times higher than found in the cold interstellar gas where stars are born. These compounds are commonly found in the atmospheres of the giant gas planets in our solar system, the icy surfaces of comets, and the atmosphere of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. They also detected carbon dioxide, which is widespread in the atmospheres of Venus, Earth and Mars.
"If you add hydrogen cyanide, acetylene and water together in a test tube, and give them an appropriate surface on which to be concentrated and react, you'll get a slew of organic compounds including amino acids and a DNA purine base called adenine," said co-author Geoffrey Blake of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
These findings will be published in an upcoming issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters." 2005 Space.com.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10550906/