There are some indicators the precursors to life may have started not on Earth , but in the Orion Nebula.
Precursors of Life-Enabling Organic Molecules in Orion Nebula Unveiled by Herschel Space Observatory
ESA's Herschel Space Observatory has revealed the chemical fingerprints of potential life-enabling organic molecules in the Orion Nebula, a nearby
stellar nursery in our Milky Way galaxy.
This nebula is known to be one of the most prolific chemical factories in space, although the full extent of its chemistry and the pathways for
molecule formation are not well understood. By sifting through the pattern of spikes in this spectrum, astronomers have identified a few common
molecules that appear everywhere in the spectrum. The identification of the many other emission lines is currently ongoing.
By clearly identifying the lines associated with the more common molecules, astronomers can then begin to tease out the signature of particularly
interesting molecules that are the direct precursors to life-enabling molecules. A characteristic feature of the Orion spectrum is the spectral
richness: among the molecules that can be identified in this spectrum are water, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, methanol, dimethyl ether, hydrogen
cyanide, sulphur oxide, sulphur dioxide and their isotope analogues. It is expected that new organic molecules will also be identified.
Also, there has always been a mystery as to why amino acids exhibit a left handed chirality which may have been solved with the discovery of polarized
light in a star-forming region of the Orion Nebula. The right handed polarity impairing the right side of the amino acid and leaving an excess of the
left handed as we see on Earth today.
A long-standing puzzle connected with the origin of life on Earth is why all of the amino acids in terrestrial organisms are "left-handed", or
laevorotatory. One possible answer is that the choice was made, not on the Earth's surface, but long before the Earth and Sun even formed, by the
action of ultraviolet light on interstellar molecules. Support for this view came with the 1995 discovery of excess left-handed amino acids in the
Murchison meteorite1 and the 1998 discovery of polarized light in a star-forming region of the Orion Nebula. The existence of circular polarized light
(in which the plane of polarization continuously changes) in the Orion gas clouds , by James Hough of the University of Hertfordshire and colleagues,
using an instrument attached to the Anglo-Australian Telescope,2 is especially significant. Although the observations were made at infrared
wavelengths, the team argues that ultraviolet light in the same region, which is obscured by the clouds, should be polarized as well. Ultraviolet
light can force chemical reactions to make molecules of mostly one handedness instead of an even split between the two forms. Right-handed ultraviolet
light destroys right-handed molecules, leaving an excess of left-handed ones, and vice versa.
If life first developed in the Orion Nebula , we would assume it got to earth by some form of panspermia . Usually a Comet . But since we don't know
for sure , we could also say me might have come via a more direct form of panspermia , ie, sent here deliberately . If life is formed in some other
place in the cosmos (Nebula) , there is no particular reason to think it only came to Earth and no other cases of other planets were seeded , and
maybe millions of years before us. And hence why it could be direct panspermia.
The Nebula then , could be a kind of 'organic nursey'. Where both life and planets are born . And is distributed somehow to the rest of the cosmos
via this central production plant . The life form created would be nowhere near as complex as our own ..even with this far vaster supply of organic
material. But from there, it spreads like pollen on a cosmic wind (of comets etc ) in the hope of finding a 'fertile' planet. Those closest to the
Orion would have a greater chance of seeding and civilization to develop the earliest.
Maybe there was some kind of bootstrap kind of first lifeform along our lines of thought on abiogenesis, but not of an evolution we currently
envisage with our earth model, under an alien environment with unknown parameters , we wouldn't be able to yet determine how it'd happen. Now, while
these far more basic lifeforms may have taken a lot longer to reach a level of Civilization we have in our time.. they may have somehow reached a
point after millions of years where they could actually have improved their dna code by intelligence . That would then become the point when
intelligence became the predominant evolutionary factor , the ability to consciously detemine a lifeforms 'successor' .. giving rise to a kind of
strata of lifeforms being born off the back of the previous by intelligent design . and the next lifeform with an improved dna would lead to an
exponentially faster design for the next. Could be that should we start to improve on our dna code, a new improved 'human' model that'll become the
So anyway, there comes a time that this civilisation thinks it might want to preserve its species by sending its dna off into space.. either that or
it wants to try say another type of lifeform ie carbon based if say for instance they are silicon .. but for whatever reason, they want a brand new
design of dna or an existing (maybe improved) type of their own to send to another planet ..and they send it in pods carrying dna across the universe
? And maybe thats how you ,and we all, may have originated from Orion .
[edit on 9-3-2010 by Gun Totin Gerbil]