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Ancient Comet Fragments Found In Antarctic Snow
An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Cosmos Magazine:
"Two tiny meteorites recently recovered from Antarctic snow contain material dating back to the birth of our Solar System, and may provide clues about the delivery of organic matter to Earth. Researchers believe that these micrometeorites likely came from the cold, comet-forming outer regions of the gas and dust cloud that comprised the early Solar System, and sample its composition. Discovered in 2006, the particles measure less than 0.25 mm across and survived their journey through Earth's atmosphere relatively unscathed. More importantly, scientists found that they contain unusually high amounts of organic matter."
re:"More importantly, scientists found that they contain unusually high amounts of organic matter." Just before he choked, fell to the ground, and turned into a multi-tentacled extra terrestrial and savagely attacked the audience.
Organic materials are just a class of chemicals - nothing to do with life as such. By now, it is pretty clear from spectroscopic measurements that the universe is full of simple organic matter like methane, methanol, ethanol, acetic acid, simple amino acids and the like. So it is not that surprising that this comet fragments carry organics. They form all the time, all over the place. This is of course essential for the formation for life, but the availability of small organics is not the critical step.
Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
These fragments are 6000 years old. Truly mind boggling.