It's true, there are aliens floating around the center of our very own galaxy. They're called amino acetonitriles.
Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer, has a writeup about this little guy, which is a precursor to amino acids and thus a precursor to what we call life. Researchers in Germany have apparently found this stuff in space, which is apparently an awesome thing.
And as a sidenote, his fancy picture of an amino acetonitrile looks nothing like the one I've got here, which was the result of a quick google image search. I don't really know how to read these things anymore, but who am I to question the all-knowing google? No one, that's who.
And as another sidenote, why does the picture look so goofy? Why can't I align it properly to begin at the same height as the text? Silly Blogger.
3 comments:
Wow! How did organic molecules form so far from the Earth, which we all know is the centre of the universe? (only kidding)
I think one of the most amazing things about this story is that we squabbling, insignifigant humans can detect a MOLECULE at LIGHT YEARS distant! I'm still trying to reason through the math used to detect them in a laboratory!
Are you guys already familiar with the Miller and Urey experiments which simulate suspected early Earth conditions, and which generate organic mollecules? (If not, maybe I'll post about that!)
What!? No! Post about it soon!
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