More than 14 thousand different organic compounds were found in the meteorite that fell to the Earth more than 40 years ago
The chemical composition of a meteorite that fell to Earth more than 40 years ago contains more than 14 thousand different organic compounds. This indicates a greater variety of organic molecules in outer space during the inception of the solar system than on modern Earth
The object of the new study was the Murchison meteorite, which fell in Australia near the town of Murchison on September 28, 1969. Analysis of the chemical composition of this meteorite at the time could not provide the full variety of organic molecules that the carbonaceous stone contained. The group of Philippe Schmitt-Kopplin (Philippe Schmitt-Kopplin) of the Institute for Environmental Chemistry in Neucherberg, Germany, conducted a new type of analysis aimed at identifying as many organic molecules as possible in the meteorite. The authors believe that in reality the number of these compounds can be much larger and amount to more than a million different molecules, since in their work they were able to identify only substances amenable to liquid extraction. scientists is approximately 4.65 billion years old, which meansthat the stone formed in outer space long before the appearance of not only planets in the solar system, but also the sun itself. Such a variety of chemical molecules in the Murchison meteorite indicates that outer space during the origin of the sun and planets was much richer in various chemical molecules than even the modern Earth, with its diverse flora and fauna. According to one of the versions, life on Earth was brought in by the collision of the Earth with another cosmic body. Analyzing meteorites for signs of life has sparked a debate. However, it is clear that organic molecules of amazing complexity are common in space, on asteroids orbiting in the solar system, or on meteorites that have been analyzed on Earth.
The mystery of the origin of life is one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of science. Scientists speculate that it may have started with simple organic molecules that somehow acquired the ability to reproduce themselves in an aquatic environment.
The first fossilized signs of life are found in ancient rocks that date back to 3.5 billion years ago. It is known that the Earth was subjected to a meteor shower about 3.8-4.5 billion years ago. British astrophysicist Fred Hoyle has suggested that extraterrestrial microbes can be carried by asteroids and settle on planets past which asteroids fly by.