The Sweet Taste of Alien Life
Summary (Nov 28, 2008): Scientists have detected a basic sugar molecule directly linked to the origin of life in a star-forming region of the Milky Way galaxy where habitable planets might exist.

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The Sweet Taste of Alien Life

Based on a Science & Technology Facilities Council news release

Sweet molecule could lead us to alien life

Our Milky Way galaxy. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC/Caltech)

Scientists have detected an organic sugar molecule that is directly linked to the origin of life, in a region of our galaxy where habitable planets could exist. The discovery, part funded by the UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), was published November 25th on the Astro-ph website.

The international team of researchers, including a researcher at University College London (UCL), used the IRAM radio telescope in France to detect the molecule in a massive star-forming region of space, some 26,000 light years from Earth.

Dr Serena Viti, one of the paper's authors from University College London, said, "This is an important discovery as it is the first time glycolaldehyde, a basic sugar, has been detected towards a star-forming region where planets that could potentially harbor life may exist."

Plateau de Bure Interferometer. Credit: Rebus

The molecule - glycolaldehyde - has previously only been detected towards the centre of our galaxy where conditions are extreme compared to the rest of the galaxy. This new discovery, in an area far from the galactic centre, also suggests that the production of this key ingredient for life could be common throughout the galaxy. This is good news in our search for alien life, as a wide spread of the molecule improves the chances of it existing along side other molecules vital to life and in regions where Earth-like planets may exist.

The team was able to detect glycolaldehyde by using the telescope to observe the region with high-angular resolution and at different wavelengths. The observations confirmed the presence of three lines of glycolaldegyde towards the most central part of the core of the region.

Many of the ingredients for life formed in outer space. The Earth formed from star dust, and later meteorites and comets delivered even more materials to our planet. Credit: European Space Agency

Glycolaldehyde, the simplest of the monosaccharide sugars, can react with the substance propenal to form ribose, a central constituent of Ribonucleic acid (RNA), thought to be the central molecule in the origin of life.

The glycolaldehyde molecule. Credit: IRAM

Professor Keith Mason, Chief Executive of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), said, "The discovery of an organic sugar molecule in a star forming region of space is very exciting and will provide incredibly useful information in our search for alien life.

Research like this, combined with the vast array of other astronomical projects involving UK researchers, is continually expanding our knowledge of the Universe and keeping the UK at the forefront of astronomy."

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Related Web Sites

Astrobiology Roadmap Goal 1: Habitable Planets
Astrobiology Roadmap Goal 3: Origins of Life
Seeing a Distant Planet
Astronomers Find Habitable Earth-like Planet
Finding Earth's Twin

Note: Stellar Evolution

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Friday, November 28, 2008