It seems that interstellar space has much more to offer than just a source of a great quantity of our water supply.
It appears that, out there, past our solar system, there is new life being formed and molded. At least, there are basic building blocks of life in its earliest stages.
Carbon-based molecules are floating amidst the gases in the depths of the galaxy. These carbon-based molecules are beneficial for the foundations of life. Far from Earth – 27,000 light years, to be exact – space is churning and brewing something mysterious.
Iso propyl cyanide, or carbon-based molecules, isn’t the only substance found in the outer reaches of the galaxy; there is also a huge amount of alcohol found there as well. There is even traces of flavors of a very popular berry.
It seems that the universe may be drunk and delicious! :) To be exact, methanol, ethanol and vinyl-alcohol, found in a gaseous cloud, can be counted in billions of liters quantity. As strange as it may seem, this same cloud also contains ethyl formate, which accounts for the flavor of raspberries.
As unbelievable as it may seem, this cloud, filled with alcohol, raspberry flavor and carbon based molecules, contains the building blocks to some form of life.
How do we know this?
Three major institutions, Max Planck, the University of Cologne and the Cornell University discovered this fact while closely analyzing the infamous gas cloud.
Using the Atacama large millimeter Array, which has 66 radio telescopes, they studied the fingerprints of space, or spectral impressions of the galaxies, or various molecules. These molecules were then compared with other molecules that had been already studied in the lab.
Much of the gaseous cloud has been found in Sagittarius B2, a star-birthing dust cloud. It seems that this dust cloud is filled with organic molecules that scientists are eager to examine closely. In this dust cloud, there is usually a single strand of molecules.
As of now, there are complex molecules consisting of Iso Prophyl Cyanide, a very complicated and large molecule of interstellar space. These molecules have also been found in meteorites, which probably originated from this area of the galaxy.
When it comes to creating life, very important ingredients include carbon-based molecules. Amino acids and proteins account for much of these carbon-based molecules. This is obviously a pair of substances that are found in the human body.
Unfortunately, there is a limit as to how we can study these substances. There are advanced telescopes that can detect these molecules and based life-forming ingredients. However, it seems that physically examining these substances is out of the question at the moment.
Until these molecules are found within our galaxy or solar system, we will be studying these molecules filled clouds with all the technology we can muster up. As the excitement mounts, the mysterious raspberry flavored, alcohol filled interstellar cloud brews and molds a new strain of life.
Image credit: NASA/Jenny Mottar
Copyright © 2012-2019 Learning Mind. All rights reserved. For permission to reprint, contact us.