In:
Science Advances, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Vol. 2, No. 5 ( 2016-05-06)
Abstract:
The importance of comets for the origin of life on Earth has been advocated for many decades. Amino acids are key ingredients in chemistry, leading to life as we know it. Many primitive meteorites contain amino acids, and it is generally believed that these are formed by aqueous alterations. In the collector aerogel and foil samples of the Stardust mission after the flyby at comet Wild 2, the simplest form of amino acids, glycine, has been found together with precursor molecules methylamine and ethylamine. Because of contamination issues of the samples, a cometary origin was deduced from the 13 C isotopic signature. We report the presence of volatile glycine accompanied by methylamine and ethylamine in the coma of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko measured by the ROSINA (Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis) mass spectrometer, confirming the Stardust results. Together with the detection of phosphorus and a multitude of organic molecules, this result demonstrates that comets could have played a crucial role in the emergence of life on Earth.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
2375-2548
DOI:
10.1126/sciadv.1600285
Language:
English
Publisher:
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Publication Date:
2016
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2810933-8
