Deep Impact Mission Reveals Comet Ice

Ant writes "New Scientist reports water ice is present on the surface of Comet Tempel 1." From the article: "The finding was made via observations from NASA's Deep Impact mission. This is the first direct detection of exposed water ice on a comet. The mission's science team says the water ice is present in surprisingly small amounts, covering less than 1% of Comet Tempel 1's surface. The finding suggests the comet's surrounding cloud of gas and dust may largely be fed by underlying ices, rather than by gas streaming off its surface."

Comments

The beginnings of life, here they come!

[smooth wombat]

So if a comet similar to Tempel 1 just happens to fly by a star similar to IRS 46, which happens to have a dust ring with acetylene and hydrogen cyanide in it, the combination could give us amino acids, the precursors to adenine.

Woot! 1/4 of the way to the formation of DNA!

Run Tempel 1, run!