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Complex organic matter discovered throughout the Universe

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actualfactual

actualfactual

Rising Star
Researchers at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) claim to have solved the mystery of "Unidentified Infrared Emission features" that have been detected in stars, interstellar space, and galaxies. For over two decades, the most commonly accepted theory regarding this phenomenon was that these signatures come from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules - simple organic molecules made of carbon and hydrogen atoms. Now HKU researchers say the substances generating these signatures are actually complex organic compounds that are made naturally by stars and ejected into interstellar space.

The team of Prof. Sun Kwok and Dr. Yong Zhang used observations taken by the Infrared Space Observatory and the Spitzer Space Telescope of stardust formed in exploding stars called novae to show that the astronomical spectra contain a mixture of aromatic (ring-like) and aliphatic (chain-like) components that cannot be explained by PAH molecules.

organic_stardust-0.jpg


The researchers say the substances generating these infrared emissions actually have chemical structures that are so complex that their structure resembles those of coal and petroleum. Since coal and petroleum are remnants of ancient life and this type of organic matter was only thought to arise from living organisms, the researchers say this suggests that complex organic compounds can be synthesized in space even when no life forms are present.

Supporting an earlier idea by Kwok that old stars are molecular factories capable of manufacturing organic compounds, they say that not only are stars producing this complex matter on extremely short time scales of weeks, but they are also ejecting it into the general interstellar space in between stars.

"Our work has shown that stars have no problem making complex organic compounds under near-vacuum conditions," says Kwok. "Theoretically, this is impossible, but observationally we can see it happening."

As the organic stardust is similar in structure to complex organic compounds found in meteorites, the findings raise the possibility that stars enriched the early solar system with organic compounds. With the Earth being bombarded by comets and meteorites early in its life that could potentially have carried the organic stardust, there is a possibility that the seeds of life on Earth were sown by organic compounds created naturally by stars. If that turns out to be the case, it has obvious implications for the chances of life outside our solar system as the complex organic compounds exist throughout the Universe.
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source @ Complex organic matter discovered throughout the Universe

abstract @ http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature10542.html
 
Oh, that's so exciting! My cautious optimism about life elsewhere in the universe is starting to feel more and more justified. Thanks for posting this.
 
VERY cool.


Let's just leap way beyond the facts here....for all we know, organic life similiar to what we are accustomed to is entirely common. If the stars themselves are emmiting the seeds of life then it feels almost reasonable that life elsewhere might just be recognizable to us. Humanoid perhaps. All that wild UFO lore sounding less far fetched. Tryptamines, and thereby a level of consciousness that we can relate to, damn near ubiquitious in the universe. A plausible mechanism to justify many of our guesses, hopes, fears and fictions.
 
Very cool indeed.

Add to this the fact that stars can create water and eject it into space, and you have the makings of a new understanding as to how life is created and seeded throughout the universe.

Researchers looking for signs of life elsewhere in the universe often start by looking for one key ingredient necessary to complex life as we know it: water. And just 750 light-years away, they’ve found quite a bit of it spewing from the poles of a young, sunlike star that is blasting jets of H2O into interstellar space at 124,000 miles per hour.

This discovery is interesting on a number of levels. For one, it indicates that throughout the universe young protostars could be distributing vast quantities of water, potentially seeding life elsewhere. But it also sheds some light on the formation of our own sun, and the role water may have played in its formation and in the formation of our own planet.
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www.popsci.com

Herschel Telescope Spots a Star Spewing Powerful Water Jets into Interstellar Space

Researchers looking for signs of life elsewhere in the universe often start by looking for one key ingredient necessary to complex life as we know it: water. And just 750 light-years away, they've found quite a bit of it spewing from the poles of a young, sunlike star that is blasting jets of...
www.popsci.com www.popsci.com
 
The Ecology of Souls can maybe be partially explained, or intuitively guessed at by this info. Stars kick this stuff out in all directions--and IF that explains the origins of life, well, no wonder the Spirit Molecule takes us to a place with such an ecology--the universe contains a lot of Spice, we meet other psychonaughts in that shared realm.

I've never quite thought of it in this manner before. FOr some reason this new data feels like it bears relevance to Hyperspace Theory.
 
truly amazing information everyone :]

Pandora said:
The stars are singing organic molecules for us.
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:d

The sun sung us into existence!!..and like galileo said-goes about ripening grapes and such as if it had nothing better to do in the universe

weirder and weirder
 
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