Discovery Of A Complex Organic Molecule In Space Could Finally Explain The Origin Of Life On Earth

We always believed that the origin and evolution of life happened on Earth, even from the most basic formation of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen to form the very first organic molecule. However, a phenomenal discovery of organic molecules found in a comet dust shook the entire science community.

On a data gathered by European Space Agency's Rosetta aircraft, a complex organic molecule with a very high molecular weight was found in a dust surrounding Comet 67P/ Churyumov- Gerasimenko. They found two carbon-containing molecules they nicknamed Kenneth and Julliette, as reported by Gizmodo. This may not sound a superb discovery to you, but as we all know, the building blocks of all cells in our body are organic biomolecules which are just made up of different combinations of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.  This simply suggests that life has an alien origin.

According to Blastr, one of the researchers and co-author of the study, Hervé Cottin, said that "Our analysis reveals carbon in a far more complex form than expected. It is so complex; we can't give it a proper formula or a name!"

This discovery further strengthens the hypothesis that life (or rather the building blocks of life) came from the outer space entered Earth when a celestial body, like a comet, crash-landed on earth. This also explains the carbon traces found in several meteorites. This also opens the idea that there might be other living being living on other planets since organic molecules are not only present but also abundant in space. 

A similar discovery of a complex organic molecule spotted at a young solar system supports that there must be an Earth-like planet which also supports life somewhere in the vast universe.

Rosetta aircraft is programmed to crash land on an asteroid just after its discovery of the complex organic molecule. NASA is now more determined to conduct more space missions to collect and analyze the sample to further establish the implications of this discovery. The full research was published by Nature.