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Past Life Was Found on Comet 67P.
Saturday, November 22, 2014 9:16
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Last updated on Nov. 25, 2014
News media reported that several species of organic molecules had been detected at the spot where Philae landed on Comet 67P (note 1). Comet 67P has thousands of such spots and there should be hundreds of organic molecules on/in the comet. Past life has been found on Comet 67P, because most of organic molecules result from life (note 2) and a few biotic organic molecules are nearly unavoidable in the mixture of the several species of organic molecules (notes 3, 4). For example, abiotic methane is frequently mixed with biotic methane (note 5).
News media reported that several species of organic molecules had been detected at the spot where Philae landed on Comet 67P (note 1). Comet 67P has thousands of such spots and there should be hundreds of organic molecules on/in the comet. Past life has been found on Comet 67P, because most of organic molecules result from life (note 2) and a few biotic organic molecules are nearly unavoidable in the mixture of the several species of organic molecules (notes 3, 4). For example, abiotic methane is frequently mixed with biotic methane (note 5).
Note 1: Stephan Ulamec, the head of the Rosetta lander team, said: “We want to be sure. But it’s definitely several species.” Quoted from the fifth paragraph in http://www.popsci.com/philae-finds-organic-molecules-comet
Note 2: For example, most of naturally occurring methane originated from life, according to this Wikipedia article.
Note 3: Organic molecules of comet 67P are not pre-biotic, as the comet originated from Mars (see http://wretchfossil.blogspot.tw/2014/11/comet-67p-broke-off-from-mars.html )
Note 4: In the environment of Comet 67P, there is no mechanism for nonliving matter to form several species of abiotic organic molecules at a spot without any biotic organic molecule (see also note 5 below).
Note 5: “In most geologic environments biotic and abiotic gases are mixed, and …not easy to distinguish them.” Quoted from the introduction in this article.
Note 5: “In most geologic environments biotic and abiotic gases are mixed, and …not easy to distinguish them.” Quoted from the introduction in this article.
Read more at http://wretchfossil.blogspot.tw
