Essential To Life ‘Mirror Molecules’ Spotted In Space, Can Explain Life’s Origin On Earth

The complex molecules that exist on Earth and are essential to all life come in right-handed and left-handed versions, which are basically mirror images or enantiomers of each other.  Also called chiral molecules, the particles have been found on comets and meteors previously. According to a recent research, the mirror molecules have now been spotted in interstellar space for the first time.

The reported detection of chiral molecules in space can help scientists understand the origin and development of life on our planet. "This discovery is going to provide us with a laboratory to try to test theories about the role that chiral molecules played in the origins of life here on Earth and how that chirality might play a role in the origins of life elsewhere in the galaxy," said Brett McGuire, researcher from Virginia's National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). He further added that, "when you shake somebody's hand, your right hand shakes another right hand, and it forms that nice, interlocking gesture; if you try to shake a left hand with your right hand it's a little awkward because the interaction is different. Chiral molecules work the same way".

The researching team detected the intricate molecules near the middle of the Milky Way in Sagittarius B2, a huge cloud of gas that forms stars. The researchers took the help of Australia's Parkes Radio Telescope and Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia's National Science Foundation to make the observations. Previously, scientists have discovered that the chiral molecules found on comets and meteorites have exhibited a marked preference for one side over the other, i.e. they either prefer the right handedness or the left handedness. Furthermore, a small percent of excess in a one sided push leads to the circumstances that forced life in a single direction, which subsequently provided life the push it needed. However according to the researchers, to understand the absolute origin of the process, we have to study the gas clouds which formed the chiral molecules in the first place. Sure enough, the researchers detected a significant amount of propylene oxide, measuring about 80 percent of Earth's mass in distant interstellar space, which would be equal to the space of five and half Earths at room temperature.

If scientists can throw light on whether chiral materials had already existed in the star forming cloud of dust and gas which created the Solar System or if they had reached Earth via meteorites and comets, that could help explain how life first formed on Earth. The scientists are currently going to study the phenomenon in depth to gain more insight into how each molecule is put together, as per reports.