Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Giant Cloud of Methanol Found in Space

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the space-drinks dept.

kakos writes "Astronomers have recently discovered a giant cloud of methanol in our region of the Milky Way Galaxy. The cloud measures 463 billion kilometres across. Study of this cloud could lead scientists to a greater understanding of how star formation occurs. Furthermore, the abundance of organic molecules in interstellar space could also shed light on the chemical origins of life."

3 of 104 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Origins of life my foot by AhNewBis · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Considering Helium is the byproduct of a nuclear Hydrogen reaction in stars, I'd say its VERY important regarding possible origins or histories of life long past.

  2. Anyone ever notice... by Fry-kun · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...that on every article about space exploration, there's always a sentence attached, which reads something like "[this discovery] could lead scientists to a greater understanding of X" (where X is usually Life, Universe, or Everything)
    It's kind of starting to get on my nerves.. oh well..

    --
    Did you know that "FTW" ("for the win") is a direct translation of "Sieg Heil"?
    1. Re:Anyone ever notice... by gstoddart · · Score: 2, Insightful
      ...that on every article about space exploration, there's always a sentence attached, which reads something like "[this discovery] could lead scientists to a greater understanding of X" (where X is usually Life, Universe, or Everything)
      It's kind of starting to get on my nerves.. oh well..

      Has it occured to you that Astronomy is trying to answer the Really Big Questions (tm)? These are fundamental questions about the nature of the Universe, not just nose-picking. Also, the discovery of vast amounts of such material can change our assumptions about how prevalant the building blocks of life in the Universe just may be. We've always assumed you'd only get such things in such incredibly rare situations as to be virtually impossible.

      If, instead of being astonishingly rare, the basic gooey bits of life are remarkably prevalant in the Universe, the presumptions about life need to change.

      If the Universe is absolutely swimming in organic compounds, then the likelihood of life existing/having existed/likely to exist elsewhere goes way up. If you can get a couple of billion kilometres of alcohol just floating around in space, I'm sure you can get all sorts of other wacky stuff happening.

      Why the hell has Slashdot gotten so friggin anti-science of late? ... THAT is starting to get on my nerves.
      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.